The Best, Worst Punishment Ever
by MortalTransience
Summary: Draco has always picked fights with other students. What happens when someone gets seriously hurt and everyone thinks Draco is responsible?
1. Another Year

Hello! Just another plot bunny I guess. Hope you like it!

-8-8-8-8-

Harry sat alone in his compartment on the Hogwarts Express. Ron and Hermione were up with the other prefects, just like they had been on the trip back to Hogwarts the year before. The only differences were that Harry was now a sixth year, and Ron and Hermione were dating.

They had gotten together earlier that summer, not long after Harry and Hermione had arrived at Number 12 Grimmauld Place, where the Weasley family was already staying. Ron and Hermione had been growing increasingly conscious of one another since the end of fifth year, and Harry had known that it was only a matter of time until they got together. They had gone out one day in mid-July, to buy Harry's birthday gifts, and had come back hands-held, and broad smiles on their faces. Of course, them being together didn't stop their passionate fighting with each other, but their arguments had lessened somewhat in number and intensity.

Harry had no problem with Ron and Hermione being together. He was almost as happy for them as they were. His only dilemma was that now that she and Ron were together, Hermione took every chance she got to tell Harry that he ought to have someone as well. Whenever she did this Harry told her he was happy just as he was, because if he looked to Ron for help, he knew he wouldn't find it. The redheaded boy would just grin and shrug his shoulders. Both boys knew from experience that there was no arguing with Hermione once she got an idea stuck in her head.

That's how it had been all summer. Ron and Hermione mooning over each other, and Hermione asking Harry about this girl or that one in the rest of her free time. While Harry found this amusing in the beginning, it did get old after a while.

So, that's how Harry happened to be sitting in the trio's usual end compartment, all alone, and rereading "Quidditch Through the Ages" for the fifth or sixth time when he heard the door of the compartment open smoothly. He looked up, fully assuming that it would be Ron and Hermione back from the Prefects compartment—albeit a little early—but to his chagrin it turned out to be Draco Malfoy. The bane of Harry's existence, third most despised person in Harry's life (after Voldemort and Snape, of course), was standing in the doorway of Harry's little sanctuary, looking as if he owned the place. Of course, it's not as if he ever didn't look that way.

"Hello, Potter. Where are Granger and the Weasel? Or have you been abandoned you in the middle of their lust-filled escapades? Wait—Do Gryffindors even experience lust?" Draco questioned slowly, and in a very disdainful manner.

Harry had decided at the end of last year that he would no longer actively loathe the pale blond boy. After the loss of his godfather he had decided that life was just too short for things like that. So, he decided not to let the other boy's remarks bother him, and responded in the most civilized way he could manage. It wasn't easy.

"Ron and Hermione are at the prefects meeting if you must know. Actually, now that I think of it, you should be there too. And no, they have not abandoned me. Besides, even if they had, why would you care? How do you even know about them anyway?" It wasn't the most amiable thing Harry had ever said, but it would have to do. He wasn't going to go out of his was to be overly nice to the boy—he was still a git.

Draco shrugged and replied, "I didn't feel the need to go. I already know everything that they were going to tell us; Professor Snape spoke with me earlier about my duties this year. And I don't particularly care if you are left on your own by the two lovebirds. I was just trying to make polite conversation."

Harry snorted. Polite conversation? He and Draco had never shared a polite conversation. Well, not since they had first met, that day in Madame Malkan's shop. Harry didn't count that though. He was about to reply when:

"Dray-co... Draco where have you gone off to?" was heard a little way down the corridor. "Draco, I know you must be somewhere around here..." then Harry could hear footsteps approaching quickly.

"Oh shit, Pansy!" Draco said in a fierce whisper, "Will that girl never leave me the hell alone?" He then stepped further into the compartment and slid the door closed and locked. Draco then flattened himself up against the wall, with a look on his face that Harry thought resembled that of a trapped cat.

"What do you think you're doing?" Harry asked him with an eyebrow raised.

"Hiding from Pansy! What the hell does it look like I'm doing?" He replied quietly, but in a frantic manner, "The girl wont leave me alone, and I can't get it into her head that I don't like her."

"Well, that much is obvious," Harry retorted, rolling his eyes, "but why do you think I'm going to let you do your hiding in here? What makes you think I won't throw you out and into her open, if not repulsive, arms?"

Draco looked a bit panicked for a second, but soon recovered, replying, "Because you're a bloody Gryffindor. Probably haven't got a cruel bone in you." He looked satisfied with his answer. Malfoy's were rude even in the most dire of situations.

"Gryffindor I may be," Harry replied, "but the sorting hat wanted to put me into Slytherin. Don't think that I wont hand you over to her." Harry covered his mouth after that. He really hadn't meant to say that. He'd never told anyone except Dumbledore about his 'Near-Slytherin-Experience' before. He certainly hadn't intended to do so now. He especially didn't mean to tell Draco Malfoy.

Draco however, just looked at him as though he had grown another head. The only noises that the two boys heard were the low rumbling of the train, and Pansy's footsteps as she passed the compartment that the two boys were in. After about two and a half minutes of stunned silence, Draco slid down the wall and onto the seat across from Harry. He still had the shocked look on his face.

When he finally got his voice back, the blond boy asked, "You? The sorting hat wanted to put you into Slytherin?!? Why do I find that a little hard to believe? Everyone knows the Boy-Who-Lived is a Gryffindor to the very core of his being."

"Well it did want to put me there," Harry responded, though a little reluctantly. He didn't want to share any more than he had to with the Slytherin. Who knew what he would do with the information?

"Well," questioned Draco, seemingly very interested, "why didn't it put you there then?"

Harry sighed. He figured that there wasn't any real way to get out of this topic of conversation, now that it had been started, without saying something very rude. Harry wasn't sure why they were being civil to one another, but he figured that he might as well try to keep it that way.

"I asked it not to." He said softly.

"What? Why? I don't get it," Draco sounded genuinely confused.

"Well, for one thing, I had just met YOU, and I knew I didn't want to be in the same house as 'The Evil Draco Malfoy,' especially after you had just insulted the first real friend I ever had," Harry said, the beginnings of a very Draco-like smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.

Draco appeared to be about to make a snide comment about Harry's previous statement, but then he glanced up and saw the almost-smile on Harry's face. He seemed to change his mind, and was about to say something equally teasing when the door to the compartment opened once more. A look of fear darted across Draco's face for a moment, expecting the intruder to be Pansy having finally located her prey, but it was not. Ron and Hermione walked into the compartment, and as they did the look of easiness he had been wearing with Harry altered into the one of contempt that Harry and the two newcomers were so familiar with.

"What are you doing here, Mal-ferret?" Ron asked in a scathing tone. Hermione sat down beside Harry, and Ron moved over to the seat from which Draco had just stood up.

"I wasn't doing anything, Weasel," came Draco's callous reply. "In fact," he said, "I think I'll be leaving. Don't want to lower myself to sitting in the same place as you if I can help it." With that Draco strode out of the compartment and down the corridor.

"What was Malfoy doing in here, Harry?" Hermione asked with a hint of contempt in her voice. "I had wondered where he was during the prefects meeting. Never thought he would be here."

"He was hiding from Pansy," Harry replied in what he hoped to be a nonchalant manner. He was feeling very perplexed about the conversation he had just shared with the blond. Malfoy had been almost... Well, almost nice.

"Why the hell didn't you throw him out then? Besides, I didn't see Pansy out there just now," Ron said, still fuming from the short-lived encounter with Draco.

"Well, he wasn't being rude to me, and I know what it's like to have girls after you that you don't particularly want to have following you around," came Harry's response. He hoped that Ron would let the damned thing go, "He sat here a few minutes after Pansy walked by, just to be safe. That's why he was still here. Besides, I didn't really mind having the company."

Ron looked a little put out at this, and Harry's last comment had had the desired effect. Ron changed the subject of the conversation.

"Do you think I'll be able to stay on as Keeper for the team this year?" he asked.

"I'm sure you will, Ron, after last year you've proved that you can hold under the pressure, once you convince yourself that you really can do it," Hermione said to him before Harry could respond.

"Yeah, Hermione's right, Ron. You really are better than you give yourself credit for. You improved a lot this summer, as well. I wonder who they're going to make Captain this year, since everyone graduated last year. You know, I'm just now realizing that we've lost a huge part of the team," Harry replied, eyes widening.

"Don't be dense, Harry, you'll be made captain of course. You're right though, with Fred and George and the girls gone, you're the only member of the original team left. There are five open slots this year. That is amazing," Ron replied with a bit of awe in his voice.

Conversation continued in the same manner until the friendly witch with the snack cart came by the compartment. Harry once again bought a little bit of everything, knowing that there wouldn't be enough if he didn't. He and Ron were growing boys, after all, and Hermione did have a thing for chocolate frogs... Soon after the trio finished eating, Hermione left to change into her robes, and Harry and Ron stayed in the compartment to do the same. In almost no time at all they reached Hogwarts, and thus, the beginning of their sixth year. Harry could hardly believe that it had been that long since he had first come to Hogwarts, had been friends with Ron, and, he realized as he stepped off the train, onto the platform, and walked towards the carriages with Ron and Hermione, how very long it had been since the enmity between Draco and himself had begun.

Harry wondered: Would this year be any different?

-8-8-8-8-

Harry realized, as he made his way into one of the carriages with Neville and Ginny, that even though he had ridden on the back of one of the thestrals the previous year, their presence still unnerved him. Perhaps it was because they reminded him of the day at the Ministry when Sirius had fallen through the veil. He was glad he had gotten over blaming himself for that mess - after much cajoling and comfort by Ron and Hermione over the summer, he had moved past the initial depression and guilt. He was still deeply saddened by the loss of his godfather, but Harry knew now that even with another time turner there was no way that he could have saved Sirius's life, this time.  
  
Harry, Neville, Ginny, and Luna all climbed into one carriage together. Neville and Ginny had also, much to Harry's relief and Ron's displeasure, gotten together over the summer. They sat on one side of the carriage; Harry and Luna sat on the other. The quartet soon fell into easy conversation.  
  
"How was your summer, Luna?" Harry asked when Neville and Ginny became too wrapped up in themselves (or in other words snogging) to remember that there were two other people in the carriage.  
  
"Oh, Harry, it was simply lovely. My father and I went looking for those Zebra-striped Fizzlesnatches that I told you about last year, and we found some! It was so disappointing that they were the invisible kind. No one would believe we had found them, even after we had shown them the pictures!" Luna replied.  
  
Harry mentally raised an eyebrow at this. He wasn't sure if he believed Luna, even though she did have a startling tendency to be right about the strangest things. He decided to play it safe and see what other information he could get about the "Fizzlesnatches" before he decided to accept her account as the truth.  
  
"Wow, Luna," he said. "That's really fascinating. Where did you find them?"  
  
"Oh," she returned, "They were in New Zealand. It's really beautiful there. It really is too bad though. Invisible Zebra-striped Fizzlesnatches would have been an even greater discovery than the visible ones. I had already known that they existed, of course, as I've read about them in my Invisible Book of Invisibility, but Father and I had never come across one before."  
  
Harry was now even more confused than before about these strange creatures, and thus he was immensely relieved when they arrived at Hogwarts. He scrambled out of the carriage and away from Luna and the two lovebirds as fast as he could.  
  
As he slowed down and his breathing returned to normal he looked at Hogwarts closely for the first time in two months. With the sun setting behind it, and the sky lit up with reds, purples, and deep blues the only word that could describe the view was-  
  
"Beautiful," Harry heard a voice say beside him. He turned, and much to his surprise, Malfoy was standing beside him, gazing at the castle as though he wanted to paint it. He looked as though he wanted to preserve the ephemeral beauty of the moment for all eternity. Harry knew he had been wearing a look similar to Malfoy's just moments before, and he was strangely glad to be able to share this moment with him. He didn't know why, but somehow it just felt right.  
  
Malfoy soon turned towards Harry, who realized he'd been staring. He opened his mouth to say something, but for the second time that day they were interrupted by Ron and Hermione.  
  
"Good God, Malfoy," Ron said, as he came up beside Harry, "Can't you find something better to do with your time than bother Harry? I mean, jeez, it's like you're obsessed with him or something."  
  
"Oh, bugger off, Weasel," Draco shot, before walking off towards the castle. Ron stared scornfully after him.  
  
"Well, that was uncalled for, Ron," came Hermione, who glanced at Harry, who was still a bit involved in the previous 'moment.' With an odd look on her face she asked, "Malfoy wasn't doing anything malicious as far as I could tell. Am I right, Harry?"  
  
Harry snapped out of his reverie and replied, "Yes, as usual. Shall we get going then? I'm hungry."  
  
Ron snorted, "When are you not, mate?"  
  
"Like you've got any room to talk, Ron," Hermione said from behind the two boys as they all started to make their way up to the castle.  
  
'_Well_,' Harry thought as they walked into the Great Hall, decorated for the New Term festivities, '_it certainly looks like it's going to be an interesting year.'_  
  
A very interesting year, indeed.

-8-8-8-8-

Harry found he was very cheerful throughout the feast. He listened attentively to the new year's announcements when they were made by Professor Dumbledore, along with the announcements that Harry had heard every at every start of term feast he had attended, including the ones about the Forbidden Forest being, surprisingly enough, forbidden, and "no magic in the hallways." Harry sang along with the school anthem, and he applauded the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He was a young man named Jack Silverton, whom the Trio thought to be a very agreeable-looking sort of fellow. Harry only found him looking in the direction of the Slytherin table twice. Not that he would admit to himself exactly why he was looking in that direction.  
  
The feast was as huge and as filling as it had always been. The noise in the Great Hall, however, was kept down to a dull roar; all of the students were busy eating as though they hadn't had a meal in days. Even Ron ate more than normal, and that was saying something. Conversation was pleasant, company was good, and Harry soon found himself setting back in his chair, very full and content. He also found himself once again staring at the Slytherin table. Or rather, staring at the blond boy sitting towards the end of it.

'_I can't seem to get our conversation out of my head_,' Harry thought to himself. '_He really didn't seem to hold any real malice towards me. I don't think that's ever happened before. He seemed almost amiable.'_ He decided it must have been a "once in a blue moon" kind of thing - either that or something big had happened to the boy over the summer. Harry figured that the former was more likely, but he still felt a bit unsettled.  
  
By the time everyone trekked off to his or her respective common rooms for the night, Harry had put these thoughts out of his mind, and decided to concentrate on being with all his friends again. He felt that he was truly home once again. He played a game of chess with Seamus, and then one with Ron, both of which he lost, graciously. Then he chatted pleasantly with Hermione in front of the fire, and finally he went up the stairs to his dorm, where he collapsed into bed.  
  
Yes, he was home.

-8-8-8-8-  
  
It was seven o'clock when Ron woke Harry the next morning, even though it was seven fifteen before Harry actually got out of bed. When he had finally woken up, had his shower and was dressed for the day, he went down to the common room once more and found Ron and Hermione waiting for him on one of the sofas. Actually, when Harry thought about it, they might not have been waiting for him. Perhaps they had just gotten a little distracted on the way out the door. Harry walked up beside them, quietly as he could manage.  
  
"HEY!" he shouted, right beside them. Ron and Hermione sprung apart as though they had been struck by lightning, and, once they had gotten their bearings, turned to Harry with a look of mixed embarrassment and anger.  
  
"Somebody had to do it," Harry said to them, looking back and forth between them, "At the rate you two were going, you might not have made it to class at all this morning."  
  
Ron grinned sheepishly, and Hermione simply looked shocked that anyone had the audacity to suggest that she of all people would ever miss a class willingly.  
  
Harry smiled, turned, and climbed through the portrait hole behind the Fat Lady. Ron and Hermione followed closely behind.  
  
When they arrived at breakfast they sat in the seats they had been using for meals ever since they had all become friends in first year. As Harry realized this, a wave of nostalgia washed over him. Once again he found it hard to believe that they had come this far, and been through so much together. He knew he took them for granted, but he was glad he had them, just the same.  
  
Soon enough they received their class schedules, and almost immediately Harry and Ron began comparing them. Hermione raised an eyebrow at this.  
  
"You know, boys," she said, "class isn't just about being with your friends. Some people go there to learn."  
  
Ron stared at her in awe for a few moments before saying, "Wow. I don't think I've ever heard anyone do such a good impression of McGonagall. Good one, Hermione."  
  
Hermione just rolled her eyes at him, and turned to Harry. She was surprised to see that he had a look of utter confusion on his face. '_Something must be wrong_,' she thought.  
  
"Harry, what's the matter?" she asked in what she thought to be a soothing tone.  
  
Harry turned to her, dumbstruck. "I've got Potions," he said, "I didn't get enough OWL's for the class, but I've still got Potions. What do you think happened, Hermione?"  
  
But for once, Hermione didn't have all the answers. She just shrugged and turned back to her breakfast, a thoughtful look on her face.  
  
Soon enough, however, the mail arrived, and with it came what Harry supposed to be the answer to his Potions problem. Hedwig landed in front of him and stuck out her leg, upon which was tied a note from Professor McGonagall. It read:  
  
Mr. Potter,  
  
Please join the Headmaster and myself in his office immediately after breakfast, as you have a free period this morning. We have some things that need to be discussed with you. The password is 'pickled peppermint'.  
  
Professor Minerva McGonagall  
  
This note placated Harry's confusion a bit, and he hurriedly finished his meal, before explaining what the note had said to Hermione and Ron. He then left the Great Hall to head to Dumbledore's office.  
  
"Pickled peppermint," Harry said to the gargoyle in front of Professor Dumbledore's office. He watched it move out of the way before going to stand on the revolving staircase. When he reached the top he knocked on the door to the Headmaster's office, and immediately entered.  
  
Professor McGonagall turned to him when he entered, and motioned for him to sit down, which he did. She then went to stand beside Dumbledore, who was seated behind his desk. Harry glanced around apprehensively as he waited for them to begin saying whatever it was they wanted to say. He didn't have to wait long.  
  
"I trust you received your schedule this morning, Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore asked in his usual manner.  
  
"Yes sir," Harry responded. So this _was_ about the Potions mistake.  
  
"And you noticed that you still have Potions as one of your classes, even though you did not meet the requirement in your OWLs?" continued Professor McGonagall.  
  
"Yes, I did notice that. Are you going to tell me why that is? I am very curious to find out," Harry said, in what he hoped was his best 'I'm-just-a- curious-little-child-so-don't-you-find-me-so-very-cute-and-want-to-tell-me- everything-I-want-to-know' voice.  
  
"Well, Harry," replied Dumbledore, "Professor McGonagall has spoken to me about your wanting to be an Auror in the future. The staff and I have decided that, since Potions was the only subject in which your OWLs were lacking, we would bend the rules a bit, and let you join the NEWTs Potion class anyway."  
  
Harry was a bit taken aback by this turn of events. He hated getting special treatment, just because of whom he was, and was about to say so when Dumbledore continued.  
  
"Well," the Headmaster said, "That's the story we're using, anyway. You see, my boy, Voldemort is continually growing in power. I'm sure you are aware of this. The members of the Order and I have decided that we need to begin training you, Harry. You will need to be proficient in all areas of magic. That is the real reason that you are continuing your Potions training. We need you to be able to make more difficult potions on your own. Who knows when that skill will prove valuable? In addition to continuing your Potions training, you will also be having a few 'extra-curricular' classes this year. You will be having Quidditch practices on Mondays and Wednesdays, so I have arranged for you to have additional Charms lessons on Tuesdays, and Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons on Thursdays."  
  
Harry was speechless. He had known the time when he would have to prepare for the final battle with Voldemort would come, but he had never expected it to come so soon. He really didn't know what to think.  
  
"Are you alright, Mr. Potter?" questioned his Head of House.  
  
"Yes, just a bit anxious I guess," Harry replied.  
  
"I should imagine, Mr. Potter," McGonagall said with a small smile, "that the idea of all these extra classes would make anyone 'a bit anxious.'"  
  
"Harry," started Dumbledore, "as there have been some developments over the summer, there will be another student joining you in these extra training sessions. Do you have any questions?"  
  
Harry was in a daze. "No sir."  
  
"Then you may go. I will send word via owl about the time of the lessons, and when they will be starting. Have a good first day back," said Dumbledore, concluding the meeting.  
  
"Thank you, Professor," Harry replied, and got up to leave. When he reached the door he remembered something, and turned around to ask, "Who's the other student, if you don't mind me asking?"  
  
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled in that way they always did when something noteworthy was about to happen when he answered, "Draco Malfoy."


	2. Interesting News

"Who's the other student, if you don't mind my asking?"  
  
Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkled in the way that they always did when something noteworthy was about to happen. In an even tone he answered, "Draco Malfoy."  
  
Harry nodded silently, then turned and made his way out of the Headmaster's office. Usually he would have made some sort of protest at having to spend more time than absolutely necessary with the blonde prefect, but Harry was currently in a rather extreme state of shock.  
  
Had Dumbledore really just said what Harry thought he had said? There was no way that Draco Malfoy, of all people, was a good guy, and what other reason would there be for Draco to be receiving the extra training as well?  
  
Harry acknowledged the fact that there had been a definite change in the pale Slytherin, but he was not yet able to cope with the fact that this change, whatever it was, could have been substantial enough to cause Draco to transform his entire disposition.  
  
As Harry reached the bottom of the stairway of the Headmaster's office, he realized that he had indeed heard correctly, then paused in thought: What could possibly have happened in the last two months to cause Draco to abandon his 'father-idolizing' ways and switch sides? Harry knew that Voldemort was quite possibly the foulest, most vile thing on the planet, but he, Ron, and Hermione had always thought of the Malfoys as very close to the Dark Lord, and Draco to be a Death-Eater in training. He was most likely very well versed in the Dark Arts; what could have possibly scared him into changing sides?  
  
And what had caused Dumbledore to accept him so readily?  
  
Harry decided that thinking about these things would have to wait until later. He had a class very soon, and he still hadn't been back to the Gryffindor common room to pick up his books for the day. He made his way back, and when he got back to the dorm only to find it empty he looked at his watch and cursed to himself.  
  
"Damn it," he said quietly. He only had ten minutes to get to his first class, Advanced Transfiguration, and as the classroom was located on the opposite side of the castle, he was going to be pushed for time to get there before class started. Harry felt it was a bit reminiscent of the first day of his first year, when he and Ron had run into class late, just in time to meet McGonagall in her Animagus form. A small smile played at the corners of Harry's mouth as he grabbed his Transfiguration and Potions things. He hurried out of the room and off to class.

-8-8-8-8-  
  
Harry had only just sat down in a seat towards the back of the room when McGonagall walked in, and class began. Today, he was told, they would be learning how to turn whistles into watering cans. Harry was unsure of the reason _why_ they needed to know how to do this. He figured that there was most likely a motive, but he decided that didn't particularly care to know what it was. The Boy Who Lived soon found his attention drifting to other, more pressing matters.  
  
The seriousness of his recent conversation with the Headmaster and his Head of House was finally hitting him, and he was rapidly growing more and more anxious. Harry once again realized he needed to push these concerns out of his mind for the time being. Now was not the time to think about the fragility and uncertainty of his life. He would try not to think about things too much until he could talk to Ron and Hermione about them.  
  
Harry turned his attention back to the lesson, and this time he was able to keep it there.  
  
While he would have liked to talk to his friends sooner rather than later, Harry had other classes to attend. After lunch Hermione and Harry headed off to their NEWTs Potions class, and Ron, who had not gotten a good enough OWL score in the subject, went to Muggle Studies, which he had opted for this year instead of Divination. When Harry and Hermione got to the classroom in the dungeons they saw that there were far fewer students than there had been in previous years. Apparently, Gryffindors still had Potions with Slytherins, but this year there were, to Harry's absolute chagrin, quite a few more Slytherins than Gryffindors. It wasn't exactly a surprising revelation, but it was still an unwelcome one.  
  
Snape began the first class of the year with an announcement. "As you had your OWLs last year, and will not be having your NEWTs until next year, you will be having no major qualification exams this year. That, however, does not mean that this class will be easy. I am going to assign you all a project today that you will be working on until the winter holiday, and you will have another after Christmas. These projects will be worth one-third of your grade both terms."  
  
'_Oh Merlin,'_ Harry thought_. 'I'm going to fail miserably.'_

Snape continued, "For the first project each of you will research a potion at length. The finished product will consist of a detailed written paper explaining the uses, effects, origins, antidotes, and any other relevant information about the potion, a twenty-minute oral presentation, and a sample of the potion. Almost all of you have proven yourselves qualified for this class, so this should not be an overly difficult assignment." He shot Harry a rather scathing look while he said the last bit.  
  
Hermione raised her hand.  
  
"Yes, Miss Granger?" Snape asked, as though it pained him to do so.  
  
"Will we be choosing our own potions, Professor, or will you be assigning them?" she asked. Harry thought it was quite a reasonable question, and turned his attention to Snape to hear his answer.  
  
"No, Miss Granger, you will not be choosing your own potions," came Snape's reply. "I have already chosen what potion each of you will be researching, ones that I believe suit the assigned person well, and match their potion-making abilities. Since you seem so eager, Miss Granger, I will assign your potion first."  
  
'_Lovely,'_ thought Harry_. 'Let's see what he thinks of us all.'_  
  
Snape began, "Miss Granger: Lackadaisical Serum."  
  
Hermione seemed very put out at this. Harry thought that Snape had a point, though. Not that he would ever admit he agreed with the Potions Master, but he did think that Hermione needed to relax every once in a while.  
  
"Mr. Potter: Humility Potion."  
  
There were a few snickers from the Slytherin side of the classroom.  
  
Now it was Harry's turn to feel offended. He knew Snape thought he had a big head, but assigning him a humility potion? That was just a little over the top, especially for a professor. Not much he could do about it, though.  
  
"Mr. Thomas: Amabilis Potion. Mr. Malfoy: Narcissism Serum."  
  
Harry stopped listening after that. He thought it was very amusing that Snape should give Malfoy a vanity potion. It was quite fitting, he realized. Malfoy really was very egotistical. And he did have that strange obsession with his hair... It was odd, however, that Snape would assign his favorite student a potion that was offensive.  
  
Soon enough, Snape was finished assigning potions. He continued with his explanation of the project. "During the last week before Christmas holiday, all of the time you spend in this class will be devoted to presentations. You will give a brief talk about the potion, and then you will sample it if front of the class, to ensure that the samples you've made do indeed work as they should."  
  
The rest of the class was taken up with notes on the potion they would be beginning in the next class. Needless to say, Harry was quite happy when the first Potions class of the year was over.

-8-8-8-8-  
  
Ron was reasonably outraged when Harry explained what had gone on at his meeting with the Headmaster that morning; he reacted as Harry had thought he would. Ron focused on the fact that Malfoy was going to be receiving the training along with Harry, and the fact that Malfoy couldn't be trusted, and, oh yes, how he was a huge git that ought to go stuff himself. And so on, and so forth. Hermione was oddly quiet. Once Harry managed to calm Ron down and explain that having lessons with Malfoy wasn't the end of the world (which was no small task), he turned to Hermione, anxious for the opinion of the most levelheaded member of trio.  
  
"Hermione?" When he noticed she had a far-off look on her face, he asked concernedly, "Are you alright, Hermione?"  
  
She looked at him, mouth open a little, and started to say something, but apparently thought better of it. Then she leapt at him, flung her arms around him in a hug, and burst into tears. This was not quite the reaction Harry had expected from her.  
  
"Hermione? Talk Herm, talk. What's wrong?" he asked, starting to get a little nervous, and patting her awkwardly on the back.  
  
"It's j-just," Hermione began in between sobs, "we all knew th-that this would happen ev-eventually, but I never thought it would come s-so soon!" She was beginning to get hysterical, but Ron and Harry decided to let her finish. "What if something ha-happens to you Harry? You could d-die. I don't know what I would do-o if that happened."  
  
'_Oh. That_,' Harry thought.  
  
"It's OK, Herm, really. I promise I won't let anything happen to me. If something does, I give you full right to beat me," he joked, trying to console her. Harry knew the gravity of the situation, and he felt awful that Hermione was crying because of him. He continued, "It'll be alright. Really it will. Ever since Voldemort came back, I never expected to live this long, so every day that I have with you guys is wonderful for me. Please don't cry."  
  
She seemed to calm down at this. Hermione straightened up, and moved back to where she had been sitting previously. "I hope you know Ron and I will be here for you, no matter what," she said. "Until whatever end, we'll all be together."  
  
Ron nodded, and Harry felt oddly comforted.  
  
The next few days passed quickly, and were actually rather dull, in Harry's opinion. On Thursday morning Harry received another note at breakfast. This time it contained information about his first "extracurricular lesson." Harry was to be in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom at 8 o'clock that evening.  
  
Now that Harry had something to look forward to the day passed unbearably slowly. Not that Harry would ever admit to looking forward to this lesson, Malfoy would be there. Harry was inwardly curious about the other boy, but would deny this fact vehemently if asked about it. He was somewhat curious as to who would be giving them the lesson, but he supposed that it would be the new Defense teacher, Professor Silverton. Harry had had one class with Silverton that week, and didn't find him to be a particularly good teacher. He was, of course, miles better than Umbridge had been, but the man was just plain dull.  
  
Harry arrived at the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom at five minutes to eight, and opened the door to find Malfoy talking to none other than Professor Lupin! What good fortune!  
  
"Professor!" Harry exclaimed, and hurried over to give the man a warm hug. "I had no idea that you would be instructing us! This is great."  
  
Lupin laughed and said, "I daresay Headmaster Dumbledore wanted it to be a surprise. How are you then, Harry?"  
  
"I'm alright, I suppose. Best as can be expected, with all the homework that we're getting already this year," Harry replied.  
  
Lupin chuckled and turned away. "That's good," he said, "but we had better be starting. It's a good thing that Professor Silverton is going to let us use his classroom, isn't it? Draco, Harry, please stand at the other side of the room."  
  
Harry had completely forgotten the blonde's presence in his elation of seeing Professor Lupin again. He now turned to the other boy, and Draco simply raised an elegant eyebrow at him. They moved to the far side of the classroom, Harry studying Draco from behind as they went.  
  
"First we'll go though the basics, just to make sure you're warmed up and ready," Lupin explained. "Then, if everything goes as planned I will begin instructing you on the Munimentum spell, which is advanced defense against certain spells that are harmful to your person. Do either of you have any questions?"  
  
Harry said no, and Draco shook his head.  
  
"Good. First I want both of you to practice your disarming spells on each other. Take turns, and I will check your individual techniques," the professor said in return.  
  
Harry felt the situation was oddly reminiscent of the Dueling Club of Second Year, when he and Draco had dueled and were only supposed to disarm each other. That duel, needless to say, did not go according to plan. Harry hoped that this particular lesson would not have any unexpected surprises. The boys turned to each other, and each stepped back a few paces.  
  
"Care to go first, Malfoy?" Harry asked.  
  
"Oh, I couldn't do that," Draco replied, "Ladies first. You ought to go."  
  
Harry rolled his eyes and was about to make a retort when Professor Lupin cut in.  
  
"Boys," he said, "that's quite enough of that. Harry, you go first."  
  
Harry sighed and raised his wand. "Expelliarmus!" he shouted, and Draco flew back towards the matting that Professor Lupin had conjured up before the boys had arrived. Draco's wand flew over to Harry, who caught it in midair and trotted over to where Draco had landed.  
  
"Alright there, Malfoy?" Harry asked, slightly concernedly, and stuck out his hand to help Draco up.  
  
Draco looked at Harry's hand, then up to his face. The blonde had a look of intense consternation on his face, but finally reached out and took Harry's hand. Harry pulled him up, and handed him back his wand. Draco said, "Thanks, Potter," and moved back into his position.  
  
It was Harry's turn to raise an eyebrow this time; he had never heard Draco thank anyone before, especially not him. Harry moved back to his spot as well.  
  
Professor Lupin, who had watched this whole exchange in silence, made some mental notes, then said, "Alright Harry, you've got good form and you've got the pronunciation down, but you've got to work on how much power you put into the spell," then he added with a slight laugh, "Normally one doesn't use that particular spell to blow their opponent across the room."  
  
"Sorry, Professor," Harry said.  
  
"Quite alright, Harry. It's a good thing that you can put a lot of power into that spell, you just need to work on controlling that power. Let's see you now, Mr. Malfoy," Lupin replied.  
  
Draco cast, and Harry lost his wand and flew back, albeit not quite as forcefully as Draco had moments before. He landed on the mats, sat up, and shook his head to rid himself of the dizziness he was feeling. This time Draco was the one to offer a hand up, and Harry took it gratefully.  
  
Apparently the dizziness hadn't gone away. As soon as Harry was up, he started stumbling, and was about to fall over, but Draco caught him. He had one arm under each of Harry's, and was bearing most of Harry's weight. Harry didn't look up or move for a moment, because he felt strangely calm and safe exactly where he was. When he finally did look up, in what seemed like minutes but was actually only seconds later, he saw that Draco had a slight blush on his fair cheeks. Harry straightened up slowly, but moved away from Draco quickly. He could feel himself blushing as well.  
  
'_What was that about?'_ Harry thought to himself. '_Best to not think about it, I guess.'_ There had been a lot of things that were best not to think about as of late, this was just one more to add to the list.  
  
"Sorry, Draco," Harry said before he thought about what he was saying. This time both of Draco's eyebrows shot up.  
  
"That's alright I guess. Harry," Draco said in return.  
  
'_So much for an uneventful lesson,'_ Harry thought, and sighed once more.  
  
Once again Professor Lupin observed the exchange, quite positive he knew what was going on better than the two boys in font of him. He would have bet that that was the first time the two boys had used each other's first names. He would have been right.  
  
The rest of the lesson passed without further incident. Lupin taught the boys the Munimentum spell and the Percello hex. After they had proven they could cast both successfully he had them try them out on each other, one on the offense with the Percello and the other on defense with the Munimentum. It was ten-thirty when Lupin said they were free to go. Both were quite tired, and very glad to be done with their lesson for the evening. Harry said his goodbye to Professor Lupin, and exited the classroom, just behind Draco.  
  
"Goodnight, Draco. See you in Potions on Monday," Harry said, deciding on the spur of the moment to be nice to the other boy. They had seemed to be getting along well enough in the tutoring session with Lupin, and Harry thought it would make things much easier if they could keep them that way.  
  
Draco paused briefly, but replied smoothly a moment later: "Goodnight. Harry." Then he was gone.  
  
Back in the classroom, Remus Lupin heard the brief exchange, and smiled to himself. "Youth," he said to no one in particular, shaking his head. He picked up his briefcase and quietly exited the classroom.


	3. Accidentally or On Purpose?

As it was, Harry and Draco did happen to run into each other before their class together on Monday. Of course, it really was highly unlikely that they wouldn't see each other at some point, since the whole school took it's meals together. This encounter, however, did not happened by chance.

It was Saturday, and for once Harry was doing homework because he wanted to, and not because Hermione was forcing him to do it. He was sitting beneath a willow tree (Not the whomping willow, of course...) that he frequented when he wanted solitude. It was a very calming and serene sort of place, with the leaves hanging down in such a way that one could see out perfectly well, but you had to know what you were looking for to be able to see in at all. Harry had never seen another student in 'his spot' before, so he was quite surprised to hear footsteps behind him, and then a frustrated sigh. Harry didn't bother to look up, he knew who it was – he always seemed to know when Draco was around.

"Fancy meeting you here," the ebony-haired boy said, in a poor attempt at a bit of humor, "Do you come here often?"

"Yes," came the voice behind him, "but I didn't know that anyone else did. You were here first though, so I guess I'll leave." Harry could hear Draco turn to go.

He noted to himself that the blonde sounded quite tired, but didn't feel that it was his place to say anything about that. Instead he said, "No, that's alright, it's fine with me if you want to stay. There's certainly room enough for more than one person here."

Harry really surprised himself with his offer, but he was even more surprised that the other boy seemed to accept, and sat down beside him.

"Thanks, I guess, Potter," he said, which was more than Harry would have expected, especially since Draco seemed so exhausted, for whatever reason that he was so. Harry nodded and went back to his homework.

Several minutes later Draco interrupted the comfortable silence that had fallen upon the pair, asking, "What are you working on, Harry?" Draco himself had not brought anything with him to the tree.

Harry couldn't help but notice the use of his first name, but in keeping with the silence about Draco's apparent fatigue, he said nothing about it. "I'm doing my Magical Theory paper for Transfiguration... I need about six more lines, and I figured that I ought to finish it up today," he responded. "I decided to write it about why some spells work better for some wizards than others. A disposition thing, you know? What did you do yours on?"

Draco was silent for a few moments, and Harry could see him shredding a blade of grass into his lap, as if debating to himself whether or not he wanted to tell Harry what his paper was on. Finally he answered, "Heredity's relation to the magical power of a wizard."

Harry was caught off guard by his answer; he wasn't sure what to think. So he asked, "Why did you choose that?"

Draco was quiet once more, and Harry took the time to reposition himself, scooting back up against the tree they were under, his shoulder just barely touching Draco's.

"Eh..." Draco began in a very 'Harryesque' manner, "Some things happened this summer, and ever since then I've been trying to find ways do some research about, well, you know, the things that the Dark Lord stands for and advocates. I want to know for myself whether it's actual truth, or if I've been fed garbage information my whole life. I suppose that this essay gave me the cover that I needed to do that research."

The Boy Who Lived found this to be quite a bit to digest at once, but he had to ask Draco something else, "Do you plan to join him?"

"No," was the immediate response, "Not ever. Firstly I don't think I could ever just follow orders from someone, but mostly because Voldemort is filth itself. He doesn't deserve to lead the Wizarding race. That doesn't mean that the ideals he has aren't worth something, I just have to find out if they are or not for myself."

That made sense, Harry figured. At least, it made sense that Draco would reason it out that way. To be honest Harry couldn't blame the boy. He knew something bad had happened over the summer, though he didn't yet know what. Also, Harry realized, if he had been the one to grow up with Lucius as a father, he would probably be confused about what was right and what was wrong as well.

Apparently Harry had been thinking about all this for quite a bit of time. His essay lay forgotten beside him, and the sun was beginning to set across the lake. Harry liked sunsets, so he turned his attention to watching this one. He found it very amusing that he was watching what really was a very romantic sunset in his secret hiding spot with Draco Malfoy. No, he never would have predicted that. Nor would they believe him if he told them.

Harry nearly jumped when he felt something drop onto his shoulder. He looked and saw that what happened to be resting quite peacefully on him was Draco Malfoy's head.

The blonde had fallen asleep.

'Well,' Harry thought, 'That's an interesting development.'

He didn't do anything about it. He knew Draco was tired, and didn't want to wake the boy. He felt quite comfortable himself, with Draco's head on his shoulder, not that he would ever care to admit it. He closed his eyes as well, and soon drifted into sleep himself.

When Harry awoke about an hour later, Draco was gone.

-8-8-8-8-

It was halfway through Potions class the day after the 'incident at the tree,' as Harry liked to refer to it as, and things were proceeding fairly normally. Snape had taken a total of twenty points from the Gryffindors, mostly because they refused to stop breathing, and everyone was in the middle of brewing a perceptivity potion.

Harry was paying extra careful attention to his potion, because just a slight variation in ingredients or preparation could cause a vast change in the potion's effects. He joked in his mind that he needed to take the potion in order to make it. He was also trying to concentrate more than usual, because the filler of most of Harry's thoughts, one, Mr. Draco Malfoy, was sitting directly behind Seamus, who was on Harry's left, in the isle seat.

When Draco rose from his seat to go get some extra frog's ears (which Harry of course, did not notice) Seamus subtly turned and dumped a small amount of ground dragon scales into Draco's potion. Harry was sure that he was the only one who noticed Seamus do this, and he only did because he was so busy not watching Draco look through the supplies in the back of the room.

Harry decided to pretend he hadn't noticed.

He had gone back to working on his potion, making sure that it would come out well, when he heard a startled yelp behind him. Harry's seeker-quick reflexes allowed him to turn around before anyone else could, in time to see Draco trip over someone's knapsack, and begin to stumble.

The next few moments were almost like slow motion for Harry.

He watched at Draco continued to half fall, half stagger towards his workplace, and everyone else's heads and body's turn to see what was happening. Harry watched as Draco hit his desk, and then his cauldron, and he watched as it knocked straight forward, spilling its contents onto Seamus. Harry watched as the altered potion began to work like a powerful acid, eating through Seamus's clothing, and begin to burn the poor boy's skin.

Almost immediately Snape was at their sides, and muttered a spell at Seamus, which caused the disappearance of the entire spilled potion. Harry gasped as he saw before him, Seamus, with barely any clothes on, and violently red marks all over his body. He looked horrible, and like he was in very bad pain. Snape then uttered another spell, which caused the boy to go unconscious, and float several inches above the floor.

Snape said, "Potter. Take Finnigan to the infirmary immediately, and explain to Madame Pomfrey what has happened. She should know what to do. Mr. Malfoy," he turned his attention to the blond, who was standing as still as a statue, with a look of horror on his pale face, "you will follow me. The rest of you will stay and finish your potions, I will be back before the end of the class period."

With that, Snape strode from the room, followed by a very pale and reluctant Draco Malfoy, a very stunned Harry Potter pulling a floating Seamus Finnigan behind him.

As they left, Harry heard the class break out in whispers. He really could blame them.

-8-8-8-8-

Soon enough, Harry had deposited Seamus in the Infirmary, and told Madame Pomfrey all that had happened. She had sighed, clucked, and told him that he better be getting back to class. Pomfrey said that Seamus would be fine as soon as she mixed up the right remedy. Harry trusted her word, so he left to go back to Potions.

When Harry reached the dungeons classroom almost ten minutes later, he saw that Professor Snape had not yet returned. Many of the students had finished brewing their potions, and had bottled the mixture. Several had already cleaned up and were talking with those around them about the incident. As he sat back down at his seat, noticing that someone had finished his potion for him, knowing that if they didn't _it_ was likely to become harmful as well, several of Harry's classmates came over to ask if Seamus would be alright. After Harry had assuaged most of the students' fears and they had returned to their seats Hermione came over to talk to him.

"That's really awful, what happened to Seamus, don't you think Harry?" she asked him as she sat down in Seamus's empty seat.

"Yeah. At least it was an accident, though," Harry replied.

"Accident?" Hermione sounded puzzled, "But Malfoy knocked the cauldron into Seamus. Didn't you see him? How is that an accident?"

Harry furrowed his eyebrows and said, "Yes, but he tripped and fell into it. I saw it happen."

Hermione now looked perplexed. "How come no one else saw that then? After the four of you left all the Slytherins started talking about how smart Malfoy is and everything. No one even mentioned anything about him tripping. I think everyone thinks that Malfoy did it on purpose."

Had Harry been the only person in the class to witness the full events? Surely Snape would have seen what had happened.

Harry found himself hoping that Draco wasn't going to get in too much trouble.

Snape returned shortly before the end of class, and immediately asked, "Did any of you happen to witness the whole of what happened earlier?"

Several people raised their hands. Harry was among them.

"Good," Snape continued, "After class I want those of you who raised your hands to report to the headmaster's office. Be prepared to relay what it is that you saw happen. The password is pickled peppermint."

Several people snickered at this password. Harry, who had already known what it was, just sat calmly, thinking about what he would say to the headmaster.

"Those of you who go will be excused from your next class. Now. Everyone please bring up your finished potions, and remember: Your essays on the properties of the dragon scales that you used in these potions today are due next time we have class. As soon as I have your potions, you are all dismissed."

Harry absentmindedly turned in his potion, gathered his things, and started the journey to the headmaster's office, several students trailing behind him.

When the students had arrived at Dumbledore's office and gone up the winding staircase, they had been told to wait outside and go in one at a time to tell their account of the events. Three students had gone in and come out, and Harry was the next in line. Actually, he was the last person waiting to go in, and after the fourth student came out of the office it would be his turn to go in and tell the tale.

Harry had been going over what had happened in his head ever since he had arrived at the office. As far as he knew, he was the only person to have seen the event in its entirety, and everyone else thought that what had really been an accident, was done on purpose. The Gryffindor knew that if it was decided that Draco's acts had been purposeful, it was most likely that he would be expelled. Harry admitted to himself that there was something quite fascinating about the blond Slytherin boy, something that Harry found himself quite drawn to. He knew that he simply did not want Draco to be expelled, and was going to try his hardest to make people see that the incident wasn't Draco's fault.

The student who had been in the headmaster's office stepped out, and motioned for Harry to go in, before heading down the steps. Harry stood, brushed off his Gryffindor robes, and entered the office in front of him.

"Please sit here, Harry," Dumbledore said gravely, motioning with a hand to the seat Harry had sat in the last time he was in this office, not to many days before.

Harry sat, and wondered where Draco was. The dark haired boy waited for the headmaster to begin.

"You say that you witnessed the whole event in the Potions classroom, Harry?" Dumbledore spoke calmly, as though nothing more significant tan a student/teacher conference was occurring, "The last four students that said that they have gave me roughly the same story, but were unable to account for several aspects of what has happened. Are you sure that you know more than any of them?"

"Yes sir," Harry replied with the same calm tone, "I am quite sure that I saw more of the occurrence than anyone else did."

Dumbledore gave a very small smile and said, "I have heard the effect that the potion had on young Mr. Finnigan, and Professor Snape assures me that there is only one thing that could have happened to the potion to have caused those results." Then he asked, "Can you tell me what happened to Mr. Malfoy's potion?"

"Yes sir. Quite a bit more of the crushed dragon scales than was needed happened to be added to Malfoy's potion."

"Really now? That's exactly what Professor Snape said would have had to have happened," Dumbledore seemed to be getting quite curious about what Harry had to say, "Can you tell me how the extra powder got into his potion? Once I told the other students of this, they seemed to think that Mr. Malfoy had put it there himself, so he could later dump the potion onto Mr. Finnigan."

Harry knew that he would be able to stop Draco's expulsion now, "Actually, Headmaster," he said, "That's not what happened at all. As loathe as I am to admit that one of my fellows, and good friends is capable of such an act, I must tell you that I saw Seamus himself dump the extra into Malfoy's cauldron."

Harry knew that sucking up to the headmaster would, once again, be a very good idea.

Dumbledore seemed quite intrigued by this new information, "Is that so? So if Seamus had in fact, not tried to sabotage Draco's potion, than he would not be in the situation that he is in right now. He just would have been a little messy. Interesting." The headmaster then seemed to consider something else for a moment. "One last thing, Harry, did you perchance, happen to see whether or not our young Mr. Malfoy happened to knock over his own cauldron accidentally, or purposefully?"

Harry sighed with relief when he heard this question, "It was an accident, Headmaster. Malfoy happened to trip on someone's knapsack. I'm not sure whose it was, but I saw him do it. He stumbled a bit before falling forward and into his cauldron. Not that I'm saying he'd never do anything like that on purpose, but I know for a fact that he didn't in this case."

Dumbledore then sat and thought for several moments before speaking, "Well, dear Mr. Potter, I am quite inclined to believe you. However, I find it difficult to believe that others will be so willing to accept what you have just told me as true. Thusly, while I have decided that an expulsion is definitely NOT in order, I must do something to assuage people's tempers."

Now it was Harry's turn to be curious. He found himself unusually anxious as well, especially considering that it was Draco Malfoy's fate that was about to be decided. But perhaps it was because it was Draco Malfoy he found himself anxious.

"What do you mean, sir?" Harry asked.

"What I mean," Dumbledore replied once more in his almost annoyingly vague way, "is that I must find a way to punish Draco without actually punishing him. I'm sure that what I have decided to do will look like quite a horrible punishment from everyone's point of view."

Harry was quite exasperated that the headmaster wouldn't just hurry up and get to the point. "What are you going to do?" he asked, hoping to speed things up.

"I have decided that from now, until the end of the year, Mr. Malfoy will reside in a room in Gryffindor tower."

Harry was speechless. Instead of trying to find something to say, he resigned himself to sitting back in his chair and waiting for the rest of an explanation. He had never heard of anything like this happening before.

"As I'm sure you have guessed, some things occurred over the summer to change the way Draco has been acting. Because of those things, Professors McGonagall, Snape, and myself feel that Draco is no longer totally safe among his peers, some of whom have... eh, different views on certain matters than, perhaps, you and I do. This incident today provides us with a viable excuse to get Draco further out of harms way. We will move him to Gryffindor Tower under the pretext of a punishment, and trying to improve his relations with your house, while at the same time, we will be keeping him away from possible danger."

Harry just nodded, dumbfounded.

"No one is to know of this, Harry. It would threaten Draco even more than he already is. Even he will not know the true reasons for this move. The reason that I am telling you this Harry, is because I have a favor to ask."

"Yes?" Harry asked, finally finding his voice.

"Even though Draco will be moving into your house, and taking meals and classes with you, he will still be a Slytherin, officially. I am sure that you are aware that this situation will not be liked by many, and what I wanted to ask of you, is if you could possibly be a friend to him. The both of you will need all of the friends you can get in the coming months and years, and I have a strong feeling that, if you let yourselves, you could become irreplaceable assets to each other. I am sure that people whom Draco can trust will soon be in short supply. He will need all the friends that he can get."

Harry thought about this. Did he want to risk ridicule in his own house for befriending Draco? He knew that he couldn't explain to them why the blond was really staying in Gryffindor, or tell them about his innocence, but he found that for some reason, he really DID want to become friends with the Slytherin. So, he decided to agree with the headmaster's wishes.

"Alright, sir, I can do that."

And Harry found himself smiling as he said it.


	4. Friend or Foe?

Harry found himself humming as he almost skipped his way back to Gryffindor Tower. He really was looking forward to spending more time with his Slytherin rival, especially after they had been so friendly with each other that afternoon under the tree.

Harry found that he was almost giddy when he thought about Draco, and while that would normally have seemed very perturbing, Harry was currently too busy thinking about how he would tell Ron and Hermione the news to be worried by the direction his thoughts had taken regarding the blonde.

Harry knew that Ron would definitely be very unhappy with the new development, as would most of the other Gryffindors. With any luck, the ever-understanding Hermione might have a better reaction, so Harry thought that he might tell her about Draco first.

When he climbed through the opening behind the Fat Lady, the current password being 'Exploding Snap', Harry found that he was in luck. The common room was almost completely deserted, but Hermione was sitting alone on one of the sofas in a corner, doing some pleasure reading. At least, Harry assumed it was pleasure reading. Most of the books that Hermione took out of the library for that reason were slightly larger than the textbooks, and the one she was holding at the moment was the largest that he had seen her with in quite awhile.

Harry went over to his mousy haired friend and sat down, waiting for her to acknowledge him. After a few minutes she finished what she was reading, closed the book, and looked up at him.

"How did it go then?" she asked, barely containing her curiosity.

Harry tried to keep from grinning, "Well, as far as I can tell, Draco's not going to be expelled, but he is going to be punished. Dumbledore is making him move into Gryffindor Tower... He's going to be one of us in everything but name." Our joyful hero could no longer stop himself, and smiled. Not a huge smile, but one that told Hermione that he was obviously very pleased with the situation.

Harry noticed that Hermione was looking at him as though he had gone barmy. "What?" he asked her. He really had no idea that he was acting strangely.

"Are you aware that you just referred to Malfoy as 'Draco?' I know that you've been spending more time than normal with him because of the training thing, but I had no idea that you were so friendly with him. Also, did you know that you look like a little child that has just been given his favorite toy?" she asked him. Then, in her mind she made a few connections and her eyes widened, "Oh, my God. Oh dear oh dear oh dear..."

"What, Herm?" Harry asked a little worriedly.

Hermione realized that she was making connections between some things before Harry even knew they existed, and decided to say nothing about her new suspicions. "Nothing," she told him.

"Oh, okay then," Harry said a little apprehensively, "Um, I dunno about the whole 'Draco' thing; I've never called him that before. I guess we have been getting a little more friendly lately."

"Mm hmm," came Hermione. "You know, you seem quite happy about this new event. When I should think that you'd be furious. I know everyone else will be, especially with what he did to Seamus today. I really can't believe that Dumbledore would punish Draco in such a manner. Hogwarts, a History never mentioned anything like this ever having happened before."

"Well, I s'pose that I'm somewhat happy with the situation... Maybe if we can convince Malfoy that we're alright people he won't try to bother us anymore. He seems to be a decent person when he's not surrounded by all of his Slytherin lackeys. I'm sure that Dumbledore has his reasons for moving Draco in here." Of course, Harry knew those reasons, but he was told not to share them, so he wouldn't.

"Hmm... I suppose he must."

"Err, something else, Herm. Could you possibly tell Ron? I don't want to have to deal with his reaction when he finds out about there being a Slytherin living among the Gryffs," Harry asked a little sheepishly.

Hermione rolled her eyes and agreed to tell Ron later. Harry explained that Malfoy would be moving in after dinner, and when he said this, they realized that it was in fact, time to go down and eat. So, putting their things away, Harry and Hermione walked down to the Great Hall.

Harry noticed at dinner that Draco and the Headmaster were nowhere to be seen. He pointed this out to Hermione, who had already noticed this, and who then proceeded to inform Harry that neither Snape nor McGonagal was in attendance of the meal either. Ron then asked them 'what the hell they were talking about,' whereupon they abruptly stopped talking for the rest of the meal. Hermione planned to take Ron somewhere secluded after dinner to tell him about the situation. She wanted him to be as far away from everyone as possible so that he could have his tantrum in peace.

When everyone had finished eating the trio got up and walked into the corridor. Harry headed back towards Gryffindor Tower, but Ron and Hermione headed outside towards the Quidditch pitch.

-8-8-8-8-

As Harry walked back towards the tower he barely recognized that Neville was talking to him. To do him justice, the resident boy wonder was busy trying to figure out how to approach Draco when he got to the dorms, and was completely oblivious to his friend that was standing next to him, spilling his heart about his relationship problems.

"Harry?" Neville said, pulling him out of his reverie, "Harry, you haven't heard a thing I just told you, have you?"

Harry had the decency to look guilty, "No, I'm sorry Neville, I wasn't listening. I must have zoned out. What was it again?" Harry hoped that Neville would quickly forgive him and get on with his story. He felt bad about being inattentive and disinterested, but he had more pressing matters on his mind at the moment, like why exactly he couldn't stop thinking about a certain blond Slytherin, and whether or not that same blond would let Harry befriend him.

Neville sighed, nodded, and continued, "My problem is that Ginny has been getting more and more distant lately. Most of the time she won't let me near her, and when she does, she's usually moody, and sometimes she can be downright rude. I wanted to know what you thought I should do about it."

Harry considered this. He had noticed a definite change in Ginny recently, but he hadn't thought enough of it to talk to someone about. If Neville had also noticed the change, though, Harry thought that perhaps the problem was worse than he thought. Harry filed this new information away in the back of his mind to be thought about later.

"I dunno, Neville," Harry replied eventually, "If it bothers you that much you should probably try to confront her about it, or maybe even talk to Hermione about it. I think she and Ginny are good friends..."

Neville was quiet for a little while, but when they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady he said, "Ok. Thanks for the advice, Harry," and climbed through the opening into the common room.

-8-8-8-8-

Harry was the last Gryffindor to arrive, and when he did he noticed Professor McGonagal standing at the front of the room. She made eye contact with him, and motioned for him to go ahead up the stairs while she talked to the rest of her house. Harry assumed he was to go talk to Draco and he was quite willing to do so. Slipping behind a group of giggling third year girls Harry made his way to the stairs that led to the boy's dorms.

He trekked up the stairs, past the sixth and seventh year dorms, to the top of the stairway. At the very top of the tower was a door that had not been there before dinner. On this door was a little sign that read 'Draco Malfoy, Slytherin,' so Harry knew he had found the right place.

Nervously Harry raised his hand and knocked on the door lightly. After a few seconds he had still not gotten a response, so he knocked a little harder. Still nothing. Harry figured that if Draco was going to be stubborn and play his 'leave me alone' game, Harry would be just as stubborn and enter the room uninvited.

Harry opened the door slowly and stuck his head into the room. He didn't see anyone, so he entered all the way, turned around and closed the door. Then, Harry turned back around, to examine the room. It was somewhat smaller than the room in which Harry slept, but then Harry did share his room with several others. There was a green canopy bed to one side of the room, and a green rug on the floor. Actually, Harry noted to his amusement that most of the room that wasn't wood or stone was done in green, silver, and gold. In a few quick strides Harry crossed the room to reach the window directly opposite the door, and he peered out curiously to see just what kind of a view Draco had.

It was beautiful. The sun was just going down behind the forest, and the sky was amazing. Deep blues and violets, but also vibrant reds, oranges, and yellows, and some colors that had no names; the kind of sight some people pay tons of money to see.

"Even if it isn't the dungeon, it does have a nice view, doesn't it?" Harry heard behind him. He spun around quickly, somewhat ashamed to be caught in Draco's room uninvited. Harry noticed that Draco had just entered the main room through another door that had been hidden from view by the wardrobe during Harry's initial inspection of the room. The other room was apparently a bathroom, as Draco appeared to be very wet and was wearing nothing but a towel, only a towel, which he was holding around his waist with one hand. Harry noted how casual he looked, leaning against the doorframe, with his legs crossed, watching him.

'I think I like this view better,' Harry thought, and he had to fight to keep a self-satisfied smirk off his face. 'Oh, NO NO NO! I did NOT just think that. BAD HARRY! BAD!' he berated himself and mentally started banging his head against the wall.

Without betraying any of his inner conflict (he hoped), Harry casually asked, "So you'll be staying with us for a while, eh?"

Draco shrugged gracefully, still holding his towel with one hand, "I suppose. I'm not at all happy about it- furious actually- but this is a sight better than expulsion. So, are you here to rant at me for hurting your precious Finnigan? At least let me get dressed first," With that, he promptly walked over to the dresser and began taking out some clothes.

"No, actually," Harry began, continuing when Draco turned around and raised an elegant eyebrow at him, "I know it wasn't your fault because I saw you trip. I'm the one that told Dumbledore that it was an accident on your behalf."

At this both of Draco's eyebrows shot up, "I wondered who it was that told the old coot that I didn't actually try to kill one of his precious little Gryffies. Ugh, though, I can't believe I actually tripped on something. So inappropriate to my station." Draco turned around, dropped the towel, and stepped into the pants that he had gotten out.

Harry nearly choked on his own saliva.

Draco turned back to Harry once more, this time leering suggestively at him. "Alright there, Potter?" he asked.

"Yes," Harry got out in between coughs, "But next time, warn me first, yeah? I was fully unprepared to see that."

Draco once more raised an eyebrow, "Next time, you say? And just when do you think that will be?"

Harry blushed, "Uh, I didn't really... Um, not that I mean... Er..."

"Very eloquent, as always. So what are you here for?" Draco asked, now buttoning up his top with one hand, and drying his hair with the towel with the other. Harry thought this quite efficient.

"Well," Harry began, but found himself at a loss for words... What HAD he come for? Oh, right. "I wanted to welcome you to Gryffindor, I suppose," he suppressed a glare at Draco's snort, "and I guess I wanted to tell you that... er, never mind." Harry had been going to say that he would be there if Draco ever needed someone to talk to, but decided last minute that it would be a very cheesy thing to do. Instead he said, "Well, I've got homework to do, and you probably do as well, so I had better go. See you tomorrow in class, I guess, now that you've got them with us. Oh, and we've got our extra lessons tomorrow too. See you then."

Draco simply replied with a "See you" and watched Harry exit the room.

"Wonder how he already knew that I had lessons with them?" he asked himself. Draco resolved to question Harry in the morning, and sat down to begin on his History of Magic essay, which was due the following day.

-8-8-8-8-

By the time that Harry had returned to the common room McGonagal had finished explaining the situation and had left. He found Hermione an extremely red Ron on the sofas in front of the fireplace. Harry sat down across from them in his favorite beaten up armchair and asked Hermione, "So, you've told him then?"

"Yes," she replied, and then with a stern look at Ron, who was still sulking, she continued, "but he's not taking it as well as I would have hoped. You should have seen him when I first explained things. I thought he might explode, he was so red."

Redder? Harry didn't think that Ron could be redder in the face than he was right now.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't talk about me as though I wasn't right here," Ron growled from his place beside Hermione, "It's not everyday that one's worst enemy moves into their home."

"Oh relax," Hermione tried to soothe him, "I told you that Harry doesn't think Malfoy's guilty about the Seamus thing."

"Well, sometimes Harry is too nice for his own good," Ron snapped. Hermione looked shocked at this, and Harry felt a little hurt. At least Ron then looked guilty and mumbled a "Sorry."

Harry told Ron that it wasn't a big deal, and said that he was going up to the dorms to finish some homework.

-8-8-8-8-

When the trio was about ready to leave for breakfast the next morning, Harry decided to go and see if Draco wanted to walk with them. He doubted that the blond would, but he was supposed to be friendlier to the boy. He might as well ask.

Harry knocked several times, but like the night before he received no answer. Thinking that perhaps Draco had overslept, he opened the door and stuck his head inside. There was no one in the room, and Harry couldn't hear water running in the adjacent bathroom. Draco must have gotten up before anyone else to avoid the Gryffindors, and gone down to breakfast early. Harry went back downstairs to where Ron and Hermione were waiting for him, and they all walked down to the Great Hall.

"Quidditch tryouts this weekend, right Harry?" Ron asked as they went.

"Yes, on Saturday. You and I are going to have to build a whole new team. I really do wish that everyone hadn't graduated or left the team last year," Harry replied. The twins, Angelina and Alicia had all graduated the previous year, and Katie Bell had decided not to come back and instead spend the extra time studying for her NEWTs. None of the previous year's players has decided to come back either, which left Harry and Ron to rebuild the whole team.

"Yea, tough luck I guess." Ron took Hermione's hand and they fell a few feet behind.

Harry entered the Great Hall first, looking for a familiar silvery blond head. Draco was sitting at the very end of the Gryffindor table, and there were about ten seats between him and everyone else that was already there. The boy was quietly reading a copy of the Daily Prophet, and was sipping on a cup of coffee.

Harry led the other two over to where Draco was sitting, not noticing the odd looks and whispers this unprecedented move was attracting. Hermione followed calmly, but the closer they got to the Slytherin, the redder Ron's face got and the heavier his steps became.

"Shouldn't believe everything you read in there, you know," Harry said as he sat down across from Draco at the far end of the table.

Draco looked up, fairly surprised that anyone had willingly sat near him. When he saw who it was, though, he rolled his eyes, and replied, "I of all people should know that, Potter; I just read it for laughs nowadays. It's immensely funny to find an article about myself being a Death Eater, or something like that."

Draco sounded like he was trying to make a joke, but Harry could tell that he didn't find articles like that funny at all.

"I know what you mean," Harry told him in a very sarcastic voice, "I so enjoyed reading those articles that Rita Skeeter printed on me back in fourth year." He shot Draco a very pointed look at this, but didn't elaborate.

"Um, yes, sorry about that," Draco said to him, slightly abashed. Now it was Harry's turn to be surprised. An apology was certainly the last thing that he had expected. Well, actually, the last thing he had expected was for Snape to suddenly declare his undying love for Mrs. Norris and announce their impending marriage, and that Voldemort was to be the man of honor. Right, second-last thing he had expected, then. This apparently startled Ron and Hermione too, who had been quite during the whole conversation. Ron almost choked on the pumpkin juice he was drinking, and Hermione looked at Draco with eyes wide and eyebrows up almost to her hairline.

Draco stared confusedly at the three of them. "What in blazes are you looking at?" he asked. Then, realizing that he had indeed apologized to Harry in public, scowled, threw his napkin onto the table, and stormed out of the hall.

"That went well," Hermione said once Draco was out of the room.

Harry could only shake his head and continue his meal.

-8-8-8-8-

Late that night, Harry was lying in bed pondering the events of the day. After breakfast he, Ron, and Hermione had headed to Charms class, where Harry had fully intended to try to talk to Draco again. Sadly, the blond was already sitting in between two Hufflepuffs when they arrived and had totally ignored Harry's attempts to get his attention. Later Hermione had insisted that they spend their lunchtime in the library working on their Potions projects, and then in History of Magic they had had a pop quiz on the fourth Goblin Rebellion, so Harry had been unable to speak with Draco then. He had immediately resolved to get Draco to talk to him at dinner if it was the last thing he ever did, but Draco didn't attend the meal, and when Harry tried to get into the Slytherin's room afterwards, he found it locked, and was unable to get into the room.

They had had their Charms lesson with Lupin that evening, and while Draco had attended, he'd spoken only when he had to, and what he said was short and to the point. He used no pleasantries.

Harry wondered if he would ever get the chance to talk to the boy again.

The next day Harry had similar luck in speaking with Draco. In both Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration they had assignments that required their full attention, and during meals Harry received no response from the boy at all. The whole situation was, to say the least, quite frustrating.

Harry's bad luck in getting Draco to talk to him continued until Thursday morning. The Slytherins and Gryffindors were in Potions class, and Harry and Draco had been once again paired up for the assignment.

"So," Harry began, "How do you like staying in Gryffindor Tower so far?"

Surprisingly, Draco sighed and answered, "It's fine. You really won't leave me alone, will you?"

"Just trying to be friendly. I know that your Slytherin comrades are shunning you now, and I figured that you might want someone to talk to," Harry replied a little stiffly. He had spent the last few days trying to be nice to Draco, so why couldn't he just accept Harry's kindness?

Draco stiffened, "Look, Potter, I don't want your pity. It's none of your business whom I do and don't talk to, and I would appreciate it if you would stop stalking me."

What??? Stalking him? Where did that come from?

Harry was greatly affronted. "Look, Malfoy, I don't know why you've got your little knickers in such a twist, but I've just been trying to be friendly! You Slytherins wouldn't know an honest offer of friendship if it slapped you in the face!" Harry said, trying valiantly not to raise his voice and attract Snape's attention.

This had apparently been the wrong thing to say. "I beg your pardon!" Draco cried, "An offer of friendship? An offer of friendship? I tried that once with you, Potter, and you blew it. You can take your 'offer of friendship' and stuff it up your ass!" With that Draco lunged at Harry and knocked him over backwards. Harry was unprepared for the attack but soon started fighting back just as hard as Draco was. The fight didn't last long, however, because Snape was soon hauling the irate pair apart.

"Ten points from both Gryffindor and Slytherin, and detention for the both of you," he sneered, "Everyone get back to work."

The rest of the class passed quickly with no more attempted conversation between Draco and Harry, and no further incidents.

That night Harry and Draco once again had their additional Defense Against the Dark Arts training, and Harry arrived about ten minutes early. He saw that Draco had already arrived, which surprised him, seeing as he hadn't noticed the blond leave the Tower before he had. Harry sat down beside Draco and once again attempted a conversation, which was possibly a dangerous idea. He really didn't truly like fighting with the other boy – he never really had.

"Hullo," Harry said cautiously. It wasn't much, but it was about as benign as one could get, considering the circumstances and it was a start.

"Hey," Draco replied.

"Look, can I ask you something?" Harry questioned. He was unsure of whether of not this was a good idea, but he knew he had to try.

"If you want," came the slow reply

"You see," Harry started, "I've never really liked fighting with you. In fact, I much prefer being friendly. So you see, I'd like to know if we could maybe abandon all this animosity that we have between us because of something that happened so long ago, and perhaps start afresh."

Draco looked intently at Harry for few moments before replying. It was a bit unnerving. "You mean, like, a truce of sorts?"

Harry nodded. "This morning in Potions, I meant what I said, I would very much like to be your friend."

Draco remained quiet so Harry thought that perhaps he needed more convincing, "Actually, I lied when I said that I don't like fighting with you... I'm not too fond of the actual fighting part, but it's always seemed to give me an adrenaline rush. Lately though, we've been less hostile towards each other, and you still give me that feeling. I'd really like to see if being amiable towards each other has the same effect as the aggression. You know what I mean?"

Draco was looking at Harry oddly, but nodded, "Yes, I know what you mean. I am glad it's not just me though... Imagine, getting a high off of a fistfight with your worst enemy! Who would believe it but us?"

Harry was strangely gratified by the thought that he was Draco's worst enemy, as though that was an honor that Draco had reserved especially for him. Out loud, though, Harry replied only with, "Yeah. So, you'd be willing to give this a shot?"

This time Draco's reply was almost immediate, "Sure, why the hell not. I've really got nothing to lose." He grinned as he said the last part.

Harry stood up and grinned just as widely. He extended his hand for Draco who took it and stood up as well. After brushing themselves off Harry stuck out his hand once again and said, "Friends?"

Draco took his hand and said determinedly, "Friends."

They shook. When they were done neither of them seemed to want to release the other's hand, so they stood in front of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, hands clasped, looking (No, Harry's mind whispered mutinously- gazing) at each other until they heard brisk footsteps coming towards them.

"Hello, Professor Lupin," Harry said, as he reluctantly let go of Draco's warm, pale hand. He stepped back to let the older man unlock the door to the classroom, and followed him in, unaware that the werewolf had, once again, heard the entire exchange between the two.


	5. Plans and Revalations

The next evening found Harry sitting on one of the sofas in the library, deep in introspection. He just couldn't get passed the new thoughts he was having about his long-time-rival-short-time-friend. The difference in their relationship was astounding. Just weeks ago the mere thought of Draco had made Harry want to scowl and roll his eyes, but now whenever he thought about the blond all he really felt like doing was grinning dumbly. It was all very strange, and Harry seriously doubted that Draco was having similar thoughts.

Soon enough however, it was time for Harry to head down to the dungeons for his detention with Snape. Detention, with Snape, on a Friday; what luck Harry had. His only reprieve was that Draco would most likely be there to share the detention with him.

'Drat,' Harry thought as he climbed out of the portrait hole, 'There's that grin again.'

As Harry walked he thought about the lesson he'd had with Lupin and Draco the night before. It had gone well, with the boys practicing both their patroni, and continuing the work they had begun on the Munimentum spell they had started working on in their previous lesson. By the time Lupin had let them go they were both very worn out and Harry had headed straight for Gryffindor tower and his bed. He figured that this night's activities would be just as long as the previous nights had been, but very much less enjoyable.

As Harry arrived at the dungeons classroom he entered to find that Draco and Snape were already there. Draco was reading a book, and Snape appeared to be grading papers. As Harry entered both men looked up from what they were doing, though the reactions of the two were exceedingly different. When Draco saw that Harry had arrived he gave a small smile, and closed the book he had been reading. Snape however, contorted his face into a sneer, and stood up to cross the classroom.

"While I am overjoyed that you finally arrived, Mr. Potter, you are ten minutes late for this detention," Snape spoke in sarcastic monotone, "And this is not at all acceptable. Mr. Malfoy and yourself are going to stay here until all of the tables have been scrubbed clean by hand, and without the use of magic. If you are unable to finish this task tonight, you will simply have to come back tomorrow night as well, and every night hereafter until the job is done, and done well. I've got better things to do than stay here and baby-sit you two, but I will be back in a while to observe your progress. The cleaning things are over there," he finished, motioning to some cleaning supplies in a corner of the room before sweeping out into the hallway and away from the classroom.

"Ugh," Draco said, voice dripping with disgust, "Manual labor. I abhor manual labor. It's so very servile and plebean. You agree Harry?"

Harry was a bit surprised that Draco had called him by his first name, but more so that the boy had spoken to him at all. They were being friendlier to each other, but Harry hadn't expected for Draco to actually speak to him cordially and of his own accord. Harry was a bit apprehensive to answer though; he had a very different view on the subject of cleaning than Draco did.

"Actually, Draco, I've been forced to do work like this all of my life. I'm the equivalent of a house-elf to my aunt and uncle. I'm so used to doing tasks like this that they're almost therapeutic." Harry hoped that revealing this to Draco wouldn't scare the boy off; he was simply stating a truth.

Harry's wish was granted, Draco just looked at him, dumbstruck. "So all those rumors about you being treated as some sort of servant are true? I'd have never thought that you of all people would allow yourself to be pushed around like that. You're probably the most willful person that I know, other than my father, but you're different... Better."

Harry couldn't think of anything to say to this, so he just shrugged his shoulders and got his cleaning supplies from the corner of the room. In doing this he missed the blush that crept up the other boy's face as he too got his things and began to clean.

-8-8-8-8-

They had been working in silence for several minutes when Draco spoke again, this time with a question.

"Harry," He began, voice filled with a mix of curiosity and wonder, "If you were treated like that all through your childhood, how can you not hate muggles?"

Harry thought that Draco sounded genuinely curious, so he decided to answer as best he could. Harry said, "I don't hate muggles because I know that they're not all like that. Yes, there are the few that we could very well do without, but most muggles are decent people, just like you and me."

Draco seemed to accept this and the pair lapsed back into silence. As Harry worked he kept stealing glances at his companion, each time missing that Draco was sneaking looks at him too.

-8-8-8-8-

A week and a half later Harry was once again sitting with Ron and Hermione in front of the common room fire. Harry had been spending quite a bit of time with Draco since the detention with Snape and Draco, and he felt as if he had been neglecting his two best friends. The trio was situated on two old sofas and was talking about the party that the Gryffindors had planed for the upcoming Friday.

There wasn't any particular reason to be having a party, except the students wanting to have one. All fifth year and above Gryffindors were invited, and members of the other houses by invitation only. Harry had, of course, immediately invited Draco.

"Hey, mate, how many people do you reckon will be at the party Friday?" Ron asked, lying with his head in Hermione's lap on the sofa facing the fireplace.

Harry, who was lying upside down on the other sofa, legs and feet hanging over the back, head hanging down in front, replied with, "About forty or fifty I suppose... Twenty-five from Gryffindor, and about twenty or twenty-five from the other houses; I doubt there will be many here from Slytherin other than Draco."

Hermione began playing with Ron's violently red hair, "I know of at least six coming from Hufflepuff, and probably twelve or so from Ravenclaw. Who was it that was put in charge of food and drinks again?"

"Err... I think Dean and Seamus are in charge of drinks, and a couple of seventh years are doing food. Who's doing the music Harry?" Ron said, closing his eyes.

"Ginny and Luna are taking care of that, I think," Harry replied, rolling his eyes at the sight his two best friends were making, "Remind me talk to Dean later about making sure that Seamus doesn't spike all the drinks. There will be fifth years there, and McGonagal only agreed on letting us have this party if we were responsible about it."

Ron turned his head towards Harry and raised an eyebrow. "That was a very Hermione-like comment to make Harry, I think she might be rubbing off on you. I'd be careful if I were you."

Hermione whapped Ron playfully on his arm, and looked approvingly at Harry. She glanced up and saw that their very own blond Slytherin had come down from his room to join them. "Hello, Draco, why don't you sit down?" she said genially.

Draco smiled at her and sat down next to Harry. "You know, if you continue to sit like that all of your blood will rush to your head, and it would be a pity for the savior of the world to die from something as minor as that," he teased, smirking at the black haired boy beside him.

Harry snorted and tried very ungracefully to hit the newcomer, but because of his awkward position he only barely managed to hit Draco's upper leg. After a few tries Harry simply gave up and let his hand rest on the other boy's thigh.

Hermione watched the interaction between the two boys, just as she had been watching them since the blond had moved into Gryffindor tower, making notes in her head. She then turned to Draco and said to him, "We were just talking about the party Friday; did you invite anyone? I'm sure no one will mind if you do."

Draco scoffed at this, "No, I didn't It's not like there's anyone that I'd want to invite anyway. You three are basically the only people that I talk to these days... But that's okay; Slytherins are zealously loyal to those more powerful than them, but they can be supremely nauseating sometimes."

The group fell into a semi-uncomfortable silence at this point, and a few minutes later Ron and Hermione excused themselves to go carry out some of their prefect's duties. Or at least, that was what they said they would be doing.

Harry eventually turned over to lie on his stomach across the old sofa, feet still in the air, but with his head propped on one hand beside Draco's leg. Harry had discovered that the blond boy hardly ever lounged around like he himself liked to on the sofas, but rather always sat as though he was in polite company. Harry definitely preferred to sprawl out and be as comfortable as possible when he had the opportunity.

Draco looked at Harry and raised one of his elegant blond eyebrows.

'He really is beautiful,' Harry thought, without registering that he had thought it.

"Yes?" Draco questioned; it was obvious to him that Harry wanted to ask something.

Harry was unsure about how to go about asking about what he wanted to know. So, he tried to work his way up to it slowly.

"Draco," he said amiably, "We've known each other for a long time, right?"

"Yes," Draco answered slowly, unsure of where the conversation was going.

"And you would say that we've gotten to know each other a lot better over the last two weeks or so?"

"I suppose."

"Well," Harry continued, finally getting to the point, "I was wondering whether or not you think you could tell me why you've become so much... less evil and git-like this year. I mean, only if you want to, you know?"

Draco sighed. He had figured that this conversation would happen sooner or later, though he had hoped that it would happen later rather than sooner. He decided to answer Harry's question, though he would not give Harry much detail. That would have to wait for another conversation in the future.

"Basically," the Slytherin began slowly, "I was already having doubts about becoming a death eater last year, but when I met Voldemort for the first time this summer, I decided that there was no way that I wanted to follow a man like that.

"Actually, I can't see myself following anybody, but that... that creature isn't fit to be in charge of a plant or a bug, much less the wizarding world. He's an obsessive compulsive lunatic. Besides, I might be malevolent, but I'm not cruel or evil. I don't think I could kill an innocent person.

"Mostly though, it was because of self preservation" Draco finished with a small smile, "I'm a Slytherin to the core, and I'm not going to be on the side that won't win. You heard what I said earlier about us Slytherins following the powerful, and your side is definitely more powerful."

Harry gave a quite laugh at the end of Draco's speech. He took Draco's hand and gave it a little squeeze to show that he believed him, and trusted him. Then, Harry stood up and picked a book up off the table.

"Goodnight, Draco," Harry said, patting Draco's shoulder as he walked behind him on his way to the dormitories, "Pleasant dreams."

Draco replied with a, "You too, Harry," before standing up and following Harry up the stairs to his own room.

Harry got ready for bed, and his last thoughts before sleep were of how Draco's eyes had seemed to turn the most beautiful shade of blue as Draco had been talking to him.

Harry did indeed have pleasant dreams that night.

-8-8-8-8-

Harry woke the next morning feeling more refreshed than he could remember feeling in a very long time. He slowly slipped into consciousness, rubbed his eyes, and grabbed his glasses from his bedside table, putting them onto his face. He stretched languorously and climbed out of bed, going over to his trunk to gather his things that he needed to take a shower.

"You're up entirely too early, Harry," he heard from the bed beside his. It was indeed half an hour before Harry usually awoke on a school day, but he hadn't noticed until Ron had made the comment.

Harry mentally shrugged and replied, "Oh well. Just going to go take a shower. You go back to sleep since it's so early, and I'll wake you back up when I get done."

Harry heard something mumbled from Ron's bed that sounded like "Mergillph," which he took as an agreement, and left the dorm to head for the showers that were at the top of the stairs, just before Draco's bedroom.

No one appeared to be awake but for Harry, and he was looking forward to having some peace and quiet in the shower. Usually by the time that Harry got there in the morning the place was full of boys in a hurry to get ready for school. However, when he opened the door to the bathroom he discovered that someone else was indeed already up and in the showers, and that person happened to be Draco-the-early-riser himself.

Harry had figured that the blonde must get up earlier than everyone else to shower, because he was almost always gone from Gryffindor tower by the time that Harry got up, but he hadn't known how early the boy rose in the morning.

Harry yawned and said, "Morning Draco," loud enough to be heard over the streaming water of the shower.

Draco twitched a bit in surprise, but recognizing Harry's voice he replied with an amiable "Hello."

Silence reigned again as Harry stripped and began his own shower, not that he really minded; he had wanted peace and quiet in which to think, after all.

Now, however, Harry's thoughts turned to something that hadn't been planning to think about. When he had entered the bathroom Draco had been quite visible, and very, very naked. Harry had to admit to himself that aesthetically speaking, Draco was an Adonis. Quidditch had done him no wrong over the past few years; that, certainly, was true. Remembering the sight was getting Harry quite flustered.

He was quite upset with himself for allowing his mind to think these kinds of thoughts, but in the end he chalked it up to teenage hormones and finished his shower without further distraction.

The rest of the week passed quickly for Harry. Classes and his extra lessons and the additional homework being given to the sixth years as preparation for seventh year's NEWTS (Hermione was very pleased that they were going to all be so well prepared for the tests; no one else Harry knew thought it was that great.) that before they knew it, it was the Friday afternoon before the big party.

Everything was going smoothly; Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Draco were all relaxing on the lawn in front of the school, intent on resting as much as possible so they would have energy for the party later, when they saw Neville exit the school and head morosely towards the lake.

Hermione raised her eyebrow at Harry and Ron, obviously implying that they should go see what was wrong with the boy. So, each heaving a great sigh, the two stood and walked over to where Neville had sat by the edge of the lake, leaving Hermione and Draco to wait for their return.

"Hey Neville, are you alright?" Harry asked, sitting down by his gloomy looking friend.

"Yeah, you look a bit down," Added Ron, sitting down on the boy's other side.

Neville glanced at the two boys beside him before stating simply, "I just broke up with Ginny."

Harry was surprised, and he and Ron both said "What?!?" at the same time.

"You heard me," he said, not looking up from the ground, "I had to break it off with her. I didn't want to, but she's refused to talk to me for days, and she's been so irritable and nasty to me and a lot of other people for longer that that. I couldn't take the change in her anymore."

Ron looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "You know, mum owled me just this morning asking if anything was wrong with Ginny; apparently she hasn't written to mum in a really long time. I'll have to try to talk to her about it tonight at the party. Gosh, I'm sorry Neville, I don't know what's happened to her."

"Yes," Harry added, "That doesn't sound anything like the Ginny we all know. It's too bad though, you two made such a nice couple."

Ron glanced at his watch and said that they needed to go have a final look at the guest list. Harry and Ron gave Neville their last condolences and said that they would see him at the party that night.

Then the two boys headed back to the school to tell Draco and Hermione about what they had just learned.


	6. The Party and the Morning After

Author's Note: For anyone confused, we are now about four weeks into the school year, so it's the very beginning of October in this chapter.

-8-8-8-8-

It was 8:45 and Harry was currently sitting on the edge of his bed, deep in thought. He had begrudgingly allowed Hermione to pick out his outfit for the evening's party, and had just finished putting it on. He was dressed in nice black jeans, and a form fitting dark green button down shirt that was a little bit 'shimmery,' and left something up to the imagination, but not _too_ much. After a discussion with Hermione early in the summer, during which he had fervently refused to give up his glasses in favor of contacts, he had agreed to buy himself a second, more fashionable pair for nice occasions, and he wore those now. He had all but given up on his hair.

The party was supposed to start at 9, and go until either everyone left, or they were forced to end it by a teacher. No matter which, it looked as though it would be a very long night for all those attending.

Harry reckoned that someone would spike the drinks, if Seamus and Dean hadn't already, and while he was a little perturbed by this (as there would be fifth years there, after all), he decided not to let it bother him. A little alcohol would probably make the party more interesting anyway.

Presently, Ron finished dressing himself, and stood for Harry's inspection. Harry quirked an eyebrow and suppressed laughter as Ron struck a pose.

"How do I look, mate? I must be simply ravishing, don't you think?" Harry couldn't restrain his laughter any longer when Ron said this, and the redhead laughed along as well.

"Come on," Harry said when he had finally regained his breath and composure, "Let's go get Draco and head down to the common room to see if anything is happening yet."

"Alright, lets," Ron replied, sticking out his arm for Harry in a mock gesture of superior etiquette. He was surprised when Harry actually took the offered arm, but after one glance at the look on Harry's face, they both burst out laughing again. The pair stumbled out of the doorway and up the stairs to where Draco's room was.

As Harry lifted a fist to knock the door swung open, and Harry found the sight of Draco to be a very sobering, and calmed immediately. He was dressed very similarly to Harry, except his jeans were navy and shirt light blue. Harry, try as he might, could not suppress the thought of, 'Yum,' that came to mind when he saw the blond.

"You really should learn to be more quiet when you walk," Draco said to the pair of them, though he was looking pointedly at Ron, "It sounded like a herd of angry hippogriffs were coming up these stairs."

Ron blushed a bit, but Harry just snorted derisively. "Come on then, Draco, lets get down to the party," he said, causing Draco's attention to shift to him from Ron.

"Harry, dear," came Draco's reply, a hint of his 'I-am-Draco-Malfoy-lord-of-the-planet-and-don't-you-just-want-to-worship-me?' smirk surfacing for the first time that evening, "It simply is _not_ a party until I arrive."

"Well then," Harry retorted playfully, "Let's go _make it a party._" With that he turned and began to walk down the stairs that led to the common room, leaving a shocked Ron and a surprised Draco to follow him.

-8-8-8-8-

When he arrived at the bottom of the stairs Harry saw that several people from the other houses had, in fact, already arrived. Almost all of the Gryffindors that were eligible to attend the party were there as well, so Harry thought his arrival was well timed. He sidled over to where Hermione was standing and talking to Lisa Turpin, so he could ask her how everything was going with the party.

"Hello, Hermione dear," Harry said to her, "Are things going as planned?"

She looked at him a little skeptically, obviously aware that he was not acting totally normally. She shrugged and looked pointedly from Harry to Lisa and back. "Everything is fine, as far as I know. I think I'll go mingle some more. Why don't you stay and talk to Lisa, Harry?" And with that she moved away towards a bunch of Hufflepuffs that were entering the room.

'Trying to set me up again, I see,' Harry thought as he turned to Lisa, 'Not that she's an ugly or unpleasant girl, but I'm just not interested.' He was about to open his mouth to say something to her when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Draco.

"Thought you might like a drink," Draco explained as he held one out for Harry to take. "Can I borrow him for a minute?" he asked Lisa. All the poor girl could do was nod and smile weakly.

Harry took the offered drink and followed Draco across the room that was cheerfully decorated with reds and blues and greens, over to an area that had a few seats in which they could sit and watch the happenings of the party. The pair chose to sit on a large sofa, and sat for a few moments in companionable silence.

"So, what was that all about?" Harry queried after he had taken a few sips of his drink, which did happen to be alcoholic, probably thanks to Seamus and Dean.

"It was obvious that you didn't want to talk to Lisa," Draco replied dryly, "Not that I know why, she's a perfectly stunning girl." There was something strange about the way Draco had said that last part, almost as if he was envious about Harry thinking Lisa was pretty, but the Gryffindor decided not to dwell on it.

He did, however, have the decency to look abashed, "Was I really that obvious?"

"To me," came Draco's simple reply.

-8-8-8-8-

An hour later the party was in full swing. Music was playing loudly, and there were quite a few students dancing in the middle of the room. Most of them were more than a little tipsy to boot. Seamus and Dean were dancing with the Patil twins, Neville was finally coming out of his shell and talking animatedly with a Hufflepuff seventh year girl, and Ron and Hermione were snogging fanatically in a chair that Harry was surprised could hold them both.

Harry and Draco had had several drinks by this time, but had otherwise not moved from their sofa. Harry had, in fact, had so much to drink that his judgment was impaired enough for him to think that it would be a _good_ idea to get up and join the crowd of dancers. He was currently trying to convince Draco to go with him, a task that was proving nearly impossible.

"Come _on_ Draco, it'll be fun! Trust me!" He pleaded, but the blonde next to him would have none of it.

"No, for the last time, _No!_" was his adamant reply, and he shook his head in a very pronounced way. "I will not dance in public. No, I will not." He almost seemed to be trying to convince himself, and Harry took this as a good sign. He started bouncing up and down on the sofa as he spoke.

"Pleeeease Draaaaaco, pleeeease?" he said, bouncing getting more entergetic, "Just for a little while, and we _never_ do anything that I want to do!" At this point he was bouncing so much that he fell off the front of the sofa. Draco just looked at him for a moment before bursting out in laughter.

Harry sat on the floor and pouted in what he thought to be an adorable way until Draco calmed down. "Alright, I'll go with you," the blonde said to him, then as an afterthought he added, in a very suggestive manner, "but only if you'll dance with _me._"

Harry pretended to think about this for a minute before brightening visibly and nodding in a very bubbly way. It seemed that The Boy Who Lived was a very 'happy drunk.'

Harry stood and grabbed Draco's hands, pulling him off the sofa and dragging him towards the dance floor. Draco and Harry both had large smiles on their faces, and anyone who happened to be watching them at that moment would have wondered why it wasn't any cooler in the room, seeing as Hell had definitely frozen over if those two formal arch-rivals were looking at each other and acting in the manner that they were.

A Weird Sisters song that Harry didn't recognize was playing, but he didn't seem to care as he put one arm around Draco's neck and started moving to the beat of the song. With his free hand he held his drink, and would alternately sip it and hold it up so it wouldn't spill on everyone.

As each song came and went Harry and Draco got closer and closer together, and less aware of their surroundings. Soon they were torso-to-torso, legs to legs, and their faces were only centimeters apart. Both of them were so involved in the music and dancing that their proximity to each other went unnoticed for quite some time. Harry was vaguely aware that he was a little more than slightly aroused, but he had had just enough to drink so that he didn't really think anything of the occurrence.

Harry was just about to ask Draco if he wanted to stop to get something to drink, when he looked up to see that the blonde Slytherin was staring at him. Their gazes locked, and Harry was sure that time had slowed. In what must have been only seconds, but really felt like minutes to Harry, he felt in indescribable pull towards Draco, and the other boy must have felt it too, because before he knew it Draco had closed his eyes, then Harry had closed his, and right after that Draco's lips had been on his, and it had to be the best, most overwhelming experience of Harry's life.

The kiss wasn't particularly long or special in it's own regard, but the _passion_ and _want _that Harry felt behind the kiss was something that he had not ever thought he would feel. At least, not through something so simple as a kiss. But the lips on his were so soft, the body pressed up to his own was so warm, and the arms wrapped lightly around his waist made Harry feel more secure than he had in a very long time so there was _obviously_ something significant about this kiss, and Harry planned to repeat the experience as much, and as often as possible.

At last, Harry pulled back from Draco, opening his eyes and becoming aware that they had stopped dancing and would probably need to move somewhere else so as to not attract too much attention. He turned back to the Slytherin in that was pressed up against him, and watched as Draco opened his eyes as well. Harry watched as the look on the face of the boy he had only just realized his true feelings for changed from one of dreaminess, to comprehension and realization, and finally, to Harry's total horror, to one of despondency.

Draco pulled away from Harry and turned and ran up the nearby stairway, making his way up to his bedroom, leaving a shocked and dismayed Harry behind to wonder what had just happened.

-8-8-8-8-

As Harry Potter walked quietly up the stairs leading to the boy's dormitories of Gryffindor Tower, he thought about the events of the last few minutes. He had quickly sobered up after the kiss, but that hardly made it easier for him to process what had just happened between him and Draco. One minute they had been dancing like everyone else, the next they had been kissing in a way that made Harry's knees weak to think about it, and right after that Draco had been running away from him up to his room.

He really didn't know _what_ to think. All he knew was that he had find Draco and talk to him. "And hopefully,' Harry thought with a tiny smile, 'Kiss him some more.'

Harry arrived at Draco's bedroom door only to find it locked, the muggle way. Draco wouldn't answer the door, but Harry would not take no for an answer. He backtracked to the dorm he shared with his four year-mates, and rummaged around in his trunk for a set of bobby pins that he had inherited, and learned how to use, from Fred and George before they had left the school. He headed back up to Draco's room and set to work on the lock. Luckily it did not take him long to unlock.

Harry cautiously opened the door and stepped in, wand at the ready in case Draco was going to hex him. He stood still momentarily, and waited for his eyes to adjust to the dimness of the light in the room.

When his eyes finally adjusted he scanned the room for the beautiful blonde he was seeking out. Draco was sitting in the large armchair in front of his room's small fireplace, legs pulled up to his body and his head buried in his arms, which were resting on his knees. It was a sight that made Harry's heart jump into his throat; especially when he realized that Draco was crying.

Though he made no noise, Draco's shoulders were shaking in a way that made the act unmistakable. The way that the light given off by the fire lit up the Slytherin made him look almost seraph-like, a terribly distraught one, anyway.

Harry slowly moved toward the newly realized object of his affections, and knelt down in front of him. "Draco?" he asked softly, and the only response was a momentary stiffening of the other boy's shoulders before he sat absolutely still.

"Draco?" Harry asked again, filled with a determination to find out just what had happened, "Look at me Draco." When the other boy failed to do as Harry asked, the Gryffindor carefully pulled his arms away from his face, and pulled his legs down and to the sides. Harry moved so he was kneeling between Draco's legs, and was gripping the armrests of the chair for support, so that he could be more level with Draco's face. He found that the blonde was still not looking at him.

Draco's face and eyes were shining with tears, and Harry felt as though he had never seen anything more heartbreakingly beautiful in his whole life. He took a chance of freaking Draco out again, and moved one of his hands up to the sad boy's face, turning it so Draco had to look him in the eyes.

"Why are you crying, Draco?" Harry asked gently, his hand moving down from Draco's face to rest on his shaking hand, which was fidgeting in his lap. "Please tell me what's wrong."

Draco appeared to be steeling himself for something horrible before he answered, "I'm upset because... Because I ruined everything."

Harry was confused, "What do you mean, 'ruined everything,' what did you do that was so bad?"

"I kissed you. You must hate me now, I've ruined what we had, our friendship. I understand, you know, if you hate me again." Draco looked away from Harry again, and closed his eyes as a solitary tear slid down his cheek.

Harry was speechless. Draco thought he would be mad? He wasn't! He was the total opposite, and that must mean that Draco...

Was it possible that Draco had liked the kiss just as much as Harry had? It certainly seemed possible, based on what he had just said. But, was Harry willing to find out? Yes. He looked up at Draco to tell him how he really felt, and saw that the blonde was looking back at him again. Suddenly he decided that it would be a _much_ better idea to _show_ Draco exactly how he felt. He leaned towards the other boy, and touched his lips to the other boy's. He watched as the Slytherin's eyes widened slightly at the light pressure, then fluttered closed. Harry closed his eyes right after. He had really not had much experience with kissing in his life, so Harry decided to go by instinct. After all, it hadn't really failed him before. Harry snaked an arm around Draco's neck, and suddenly he felt himself being pulled up into the chair with Draco. He certainly found no problems with sitting in his affection's lap, and decided that this was definitely one of the best moments of his life.

Harry opened his mouth slightly, and touched his tongue lightly to Draco's lips, the other boy immediately opened his mouth in response, letting out a low moan, and Harry went into sensory overload. As his tongue touched Draco's for the first time, Harry's world exploded. There was no one left to Harry but the two of them, and no time mattered like the present. Harry knew intuitively that he never wanted to give this feeling up, and would fight for it if he had to. When the need to breathe became more imperative than the one to _keep kissing Draco_, Harry slowly ended the kiss and pulled back.

He knew he must look dazed, and when his vision finally came into focus and he saw a very disheveled looking Draco who said, "Repress, much?" Harry had to laugh.

And he kept laughing until he felt a very arousing and wholly pleasant sensation on his neck. After a moment of befuddled thinking Harry realized what had happened. 'He licked me,' was the only coherent thought that Harry could rationally compute as he turned back to face a now smirking Draco, with wide eyes.

Harry's thought process returned to normal, or rather, as normal as it ever was, and decided that the best course of action would be to kiss Draco again. So he did.

Over and over and over.

-8-8-8-8-

Harry and Draco had continually alternated kissing, talking about what had happened between them and what they were going to do about it, and simply sitting silently and contentedly in each other's arms. It was a very warm and happy time for the two boys, and it was well past midnight before either of them thought to look at a clock.

"Oh, shit, Draco, look at the time, we've been up here nearly two and a half hours!" Harry had glanced at his watch and sat up on the bed, where the pair had moved when the armchair had become too uncomfortable for the two of them to sit and kiss and talk in. "I'm going to have to go back to my dorm."

"No, you're going to stay here and sleep with me," came Draco's answer, and at the look on Harry's face he realized what he had just said. "Sleep, Harry, that's all. But you're going to stay here to do it."

Harry couldn't help but grin. He had a boyfriend (they had both, over the course of the evening, admitted the new depth of feelings for one another, and decided that they better start seeing each other as soon as possible; this had been followed up by more kissing), and was going to spend the night with him in his bed. Albeit, nothing really sexual would happen, but Harry had never had anyone he could do something so special and intimate with as to share a bed with them.

The two boys quickly stripped down to their boxers, and Draco lent Harry a tee shirt to wear, putting one on as well. The two climbed into the bed and under the covers, kissed each other softly one last time for the night, and went to sleep, curled in each other's arms.

Harry awoke the next morning to the feeling of warm breath blowing across his forehead, and even warmer arms wrapped around his torso. He immediately stiffened, and then relaxed again when he remembered the events of the previous night. The dark haired boy buried his face in the neck of his new love, and snuggled up to the hot body beside him.

"Are you awake, then?" Harry heard Draco ask quietly from above his head.

"Mmmh, yes," Harry replied sleepily, "This is nice. Why haven't we done this before?"

Draco gave a light chuckle, and then heaved what was apparently a sigh of relief. "I was so worried," he said, "that when you woke up you would remember what had happened and be angry. I'm glad you're not."

Now it was Harry's turn to laugh. "Didn't I convince you well enough last night that this is what I want? I guess I'll just have to keep trying." So he scooted back up towards Draco's face and kissed him lightly on the lips.

"I don't think that I'll ever get tired of that," Draco said after they had pulled apart, and then added with a suggestive smirk, "but I'm not sure that I'm _quite _convinced that you like me just yet."

Harry smiled, and played along, "Well then, I guess that I'll just keep convincing you until you're sure," and with that he went back to kissing the boy in his arms.

Several minutes later, when Draco had finally assured Harry of his confidence in the Gryffindors feelings for him, the two decided to dress and head down to the great hall for breakfast.

"Are we going to tell people about us?" Draco asked suddenly, while he was pulling on a pair of blue jeans.

Harry looked up from buttoning the shirt that he had borrowed from Draco for the day, and said, "If I could, I'd shout it from the rooftops, but honestly, I don't think that that's a very good idea. I think we should only tell a few people that we trust. I don't want anything bad to happen to you just for being the "Lover of The Boy Who Lived." I would never want to put you in harms way."

Draco smiled, and crossed the room to give Harry a small kiss. "I take it you'll want to tell Ron and Hermione?" he asked.

"Yes, and maybe Professor Lupin? Is there anyone else that you want to know?" Harry wrapped his arms around Draco's shoulders, still caught in the "new romance bliss."

"Mmh, I don't think so," Draco replied, "Those three, and maybe Dumbledore, are fine with me. Come on, let's get to breakfast."

-8-8-8-8-

When the two boys arrived in the great hall, they went to sit down by a solitary Hermione. She looked up and smiled when they sat down, and her eyebrows shot up at once when she saw the outfit that Harry was wearing. It was obviously not his own.

"Where did you get those clothes, Harry?" she asked him once he and Draco had settled themselves and begun putting food on their plates.

"What? Oh. These are Draco's. He let me borrow them." Luckily Hermione had looked to Draco at the comment and missed the blush on Harry's face. Draco simply shrugged at her.

Harry was wondering if Hermione would figure them out before they had the chance to tell her themselves, but as she "Hmm'ed" and went back to her meal he figured that she would not.

Draco coughed lightly to get Harry's attention and motioned to him as though to tell Harry to "get on with the revealing of their secret." Harry nodded and mouthed, '_Give me a minute,'_ then turned to Hermione.

"Where's Ron at, do you know?" he asked her, biting into a muffin.

"Oh," she said as though suddenly remembering something, "He had a bit of a headache this morning and decided to stay in bed. He _did_, however, say that you failed to return to _your_ bed last night Harry. Where were you?"

'Here goes nothing...' Harry thought pensively, and answered, "Oh, Um, I, uh, spent the night with a beautiful blonde." He snuck a quick look at Draco who seemed to be holding back a smile.

"Oh." Hermione said, and turned back to her breakfast. Then what Harry and said seemed to finally click in her head, and she quickly looked back at him, wide eyed. "OH."

"Yes, 'oh,'" Harry affirmed, laughing a little.

Hermione's demeanor rapidly changed to that of a child in a candy store. "Who is she?" she asked quietly, leaning over the table in a very conspiratorial way, "Was it Susan? Or Lisa! Yes, I knew you'd like her."

"Um, Hermione," Harry said, cutting her off, "I didn't spend the night with a girl." Draco was definitely losing the battle with restraining his laughter now, and reached over to take Harry's hand for his own support. Harry took it happily, and looked back to Hermione.

The intelligent girl had not missed the display between the two, and while she had been stunned when Harry had said he hadn't spent the night with a girl, things suddenly moved into place in her mind when she watched the interaction between the two boys sitting across from her.

'Strange,' she thought, 'I would have thought that the idea of Harry and Draco together would be disturbing, like Ron, with house elves, but really it's not. I think they really will fit each other. They certainly do make a beautiful couple.'

Harry saw that Hermione had obviously made the connection, but since she wasn't saying anything he asked, "Herm? You alright?" He used the hand that wasn't attached to Draco's to pour himself a glass of pumpkin juice, and take a sip.

Hermione shook herself out of her thoughts and replied, "Yes. So, last night, was it, you know, _good?_"

Harry choked on his pumpkin juice, and Draco's fight with the laughter was lost.

-8-8-8-8-

Several minutes, and even more explanations of what _had_ and _had not _happened the previous night, and Hermione's curiosity was sated. At Harry's request she had even agreed to tell Ron about the two being together, in exchange for them kissing in front of her for a minute or two. They thought this was an odd request, but complied anyway. They were happy to have another excuse to lock lips for a while. And to get out of telling Ron.

The three of them headed outside so that Harry and Draco could put on their little show for Hermione in private. When they finally reached their destination, and Harry and Draco had finished pashing, Hermione looked a little dumbfounded.

"What? Is it really that bad? You asked to see it you know," Draco said to her in slight annoyance when he saw the look on her face.

"Oh, no, no, no, you don't get it. That's got to be one of the hottest, most beautiful things I've ever seen." She was clearly warning up to the idea of the two of them together. "You don't realize what you have here, you could make money by doing that for girls. Separately you're both good looking, but together you compliment each other in a way I've never seen before. You're stunning."

While Harry and Draco looked at each other in astonishment, Hermione excused herself to go look for Ron so she could tell him the good (or possibly bad) news.

-8-8-8-8-

It was nearing lunchtime, and the young couple was strolling slowly by the lake. Harry spotted Ron walking quickly in their direction, so he and Draco headed towards him as well. They stopped to wait by a large tree, and when Ron arrived they honestly couldn't tell if he was happy or disconcerted to see them.

"Hey Ron," Harry said nervously, "Everything okay?"

"No, actually, it's not. Hermione just played the worst trick ever on me," he responded, now obviously sulking.

"What do you mean?" Draco asked him, shooting Harry a pointed look.

"She told me that the two of you are dating. And you know what's worse? I actually _believed_ her for a minute. God, I'm so damn gullible," Ron kicked at the grass beneath his feat, and blushed crimson to his ears.

"Um, Ron? She wasn't joking. Draco and I are really together." Harry watched his friend apprehensively for a reaction.

Ron simply snorted and said, "Yeah, not going to fall for it twice in one day, I'm not _stupid_ you know." He sounded almost offended.

"Another one that needs convincing? Is the two of us being together really that unbelievable Draco?" He asked the blonde beside him. Turning back to Ron he asked, "Okay, how do we prove it to you?"

The redhead's face snapped up to look at Harry suspiciously, "You could, um, kiss him I suppose, and I mean really. No little peck on the cheek." He smirked, clearly thinking that Harry would never do such.

"Your lot certainly are a bunch of voyeurs, Harry," Draco said with a sigh, "Shall we do this then?"

"I suppose. Don't say I didn't warn you Ron." With that Harry wrapped his arms around Draco's waist, and pulled him close for a long, openmouthed kiss.

They only stopped when they heard a thud nearby, and a familiar voice saying, "Oh, honestly, I told you that you had a powerful thing going there. You shouldn't have done that without warning him first." Hermione walked up and crouched beside a fainted Ron.

"But we did warn him," Draco informed her, "In fact he _asked_ us to do it."

When Hermione looked at him skeptically Harry elaborated, "He didn't believe us when we said we were together, so we asked him how we could prove it. He told us to kiss."

Hermione sighed and said something to the effect of, "That figures," before levitating Ron and taking him back to the castle. Harry and Draco followed slowly behind, happy for the moment, just to be in each other's company.


	7. Tempers and Discoveries

Not feeling the desire to explain an unconscious Ron Weasley to any of the school's teachers or Madame Pomfrey, Hermione guided the floating (and very much out cold) redheaded boy to the Room of Requirement. Trailing not too far behind her were the almost-but-not-quite-touching Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. They had moved marginally farther apart when they had reached the school, not wanting to draw attention to the change in their relationship.

When she opened the door to the room, Hermione saw a very comfortable sort of place, much like the Gryffindor common room. It was furnished similarly, with a few overstuffed burgundy sofas and armchairs, a fireplace, bookshelves, and a coffee table with a muggle chess set on it.

Hermione lowered the now drooling Ron onto one of the sofas, making a quiet sound of revulsion at the sight of the drool. As soon as he was free of the levitation charm Ron curled into the fetal position and started sucking his thumb. Hermione rolled her eyes, turning towards the door when she heard two distinct snickers behind her.

"Really now," Draco asked through snickers, "Does he always look like that when he's sleeping? Where's that Creevy kid when you need him?"

Harry had calmed and sat on the sofa across the coffee table from Ron's. "No, he usually doesn't, I don't think," he informed Draco, "This is an entirely new phenomenon, and I do intend to tease him as much as I can about it."

Draco looked delighted, and immediately sat down next to Harry on the sofa so that his thighs were in Harry's lap, and wound his arms around the other boy's neck. "I'm rubbing off on you already! You're turning into the boyfriend I never knew I wanted!" he seemed quite happy that Harry was planning on irritating Ron. He accentuated his pleasure by giving Harry a wet kiss on the cheek; something that he would have never considered doing before the previous night.

Hermione, who had since seated herself in one of the armchairs beside the sofas, was currently ignoring the display between the two boys, in favor of watching to see if her boyfriend was going to wake up. She found that he was.

"Boys," she said, glancing over to where Draco was trying to plant sloppy kisses on Harry, and Harry was trying to push Draco away (though unsuccessfully, as he was giggling too hard to put up much of a fight). She saw that they hadn't heard her and spoke up. "_Boys_," she said again, loudly, and this time they did hear. "He's about to wake up, and this," she waved her hand in their direction, "is probably not something he wants to see."

Draco shot her a glare, but stopped trying to orally molest Harry. "He's a big boy, I'm sure he can take it." He paused to think for a moment, then added, "Though, after what happened outside, maybe he can't." Hermione nodded, and noted to herself that while Draco had stopped trying to kiss Harry, he was still practically sitting in his lap. Ron was _not_ going to be a happy camper.

The three students' attention was diverted as Ron let out a pained groan, and slowly sat up. He looked around bleary eyed for a few moments, before he spotted Hermione.

"Where are we Herm?" he asked; confusion from sleep was still clouding his mind, and he did not recognize his surroundings.

"Room of Requirement," she replied shortly, but with some affection, "I thought it would be the best place to bring you after you fainted."

"Fainted? Wha?" Even more confused now, he yawned and looked around for some indicator of why he might have collapsed. When he saw Harry and Draco looking oh-so-chummy on the couch, he remembered why. Then he groaned and started twitching. First his left eye, then his right hand began making small, uncontrolled movements that were beginning to scare Harry and Hermione. Draco simply raised an eyebrow.

Hermione decided that she had better do something, and soon, before Ron blew his top at the situation. "Ron, honey," she murmured as soothingly as possible, moving beside him on the couch and taking his twitching hand in her own, "Everything is going to be O.K. This is not something to lose your temper about. It will all be alright." She could see that he wasn't listening, so she stopped talking and just held onto his hand.

After about 30 seconds of loaded silence, Ron removed his hand from Hermione's, grabbed one of the pillows off the couch, put it up to his face, and started screaming.

Hermione was speechless. She could only blink at the redhead. Draco had started snickering again, and Harry was looking bewildered.

A minute and fifteen seconds later, he was still screaming into the pillow.

"How long do you reckon he can go?" an incredulous Harry asked a rather impressed looking Draco.

Hermione, who had overheard said plainly, "He's got a lot of anger to let out, obviously. At least this is better than violence."

"Yes," Draco interjected, "Total and immediate acceptance and understanding isn't plausible, but violence is almost anticipated. So I'd say he's handling this about as well as could be expected. I've heard that Weasleys have horrid tempers."

Harry nodded, and the three turned back to Ron who seemed to be stopping his vocal assault of the pillow. The redhead calmly put the pillow down beside him, and looked at the three faces that were staring at him.

"I have thought about the situation at length," he began, as calmly as if he had not just had a conniption fit.

"At length?" Draco interrupted, disbelieving.

"Yes," Ron glared fiercely at him for a moment, "at length," and then continued looking back and forth between Hermione and Harry. "I have decided that I plan to be in denial about this whole affair for quite some time. That is all I have to say on the matter. Now. Harry," he motioned to the chessboard on the coffee table between them, "would you like to play a few games?"

Everyone was silent.

"Alright," Harry finally replied, "That sounds like a good idea."

-8-8-8-8-

Ron skillfully ignored Draco's presence in the room for the rest of the afternoon.

He had twitched once or twice when Draco had lain down behind Harry on the couch and begun to scratch his back, receiving sounds of pleasure and approval from the brunette. Hermione had looked up from the book she was reading at the quiet noises (she had found a copy of their Transfiguration text on one of the shelves), and gave a quiet snort, but had then preceded to pay no further attention to the boys.

However, Ron nearly lost his ability to ignore the blonde soon after that. It was Harry's turn to move a piece on the chessboard, and as soon as he had put his hand to the chess piece he planned to move, he froze. After a moment, Ron looked up to Harry, and did not at all like what he saw. Harry's eyes were closed, and he was breathing laboriously. He looked as though he was trying to restrain himself from moaning out loud. Draco had put his hand up the front of Harry's shirt, and was doing things that frankly, Ron didn't want to think about, to the left side of Harry's chest.

Draco looked at Ron, and smirked. Then he turned his attention back to his boyfriend, and slowly moved to where he could whisper right into his ear.

"Harry," he whispered, "You're about to move the wrong piece. Move the kingside castle instead or Weasley will have you in checkmate." Draco leisurely licked the outside of Harry's ear, causing the boy to shudder violently, and slowly moved away again, also removing his hand from Harry's shirt.

Harry gradually came back to himself, shook his head, and registered what had just happened. He shot Draco a quick glare (at which he just received an innocent smirk), smacked him on the bottom (this time getting an "Ow!" and then an "Ooh, feisty aren't we?" from the blonde), but did as was suggested nonetheless.

Ron was red in the face, Harry was hot and bothered, Draco was smug, and Hermione was hiding a blush behind her book, but no more such incidences occurred that afternoon.

And that was fortunate, for Ron's sanity, if nothing else.

-8-8-8-8-

When the foursome sat down to dinner in the Great Hall that evening, they did not expect to immediately be surrounded by their peers wanting to talk about the previous evening's party. However, this is exactly what happened, so the four settled in for what they figured would be a long, boisterous meal.

Much was discussed, from who was there, to what they wore, who danced with who, and the like. Seamus kept glancing over in Harry's direction, so the dark haired boy steeled himself for what would most likely be a question he didn't want to answer.

It finally came, when all of the noise was dying down and the meal was almost over. Harry had become complacent that Seamus wouldn't ask him about whatever it was he was curious about, so when the Irish boy finally did attempt to get his attention from down the table, Harry was almost unable to restrain his groan of annoyance.

"So, Harry," he asked in what he must have thought to be a conspiratorial manner, even though it was obvious that at least 12 people could hear what he was saying, "You left the party very early last night, and you never came to bed. Who were you with that whole time?"

Harry's mind raced. How should he answer? It was overly apparent that Seamus, and the rest of the uninformed onlookers, thought that he had been with a girl the night before. It was written plainly on their expectant faces. He was saved having to think up an acceptable lie when Draco spoke up for him.

"He was with me," was Draco's simple statement, "I got bored so I asked him to take a walk with me outside. We fell asleep later in my room. Harry didn't want to wake you guys going back in your dorm room so I let him stay."

Harry almost laughed when he saw the faces of those around him fall. If only they knew how close to the truth Draco's explanation was. He managed to keep a straight face, and nodded to show his agreement to the story. Harry was very relieved when the conversation turned to Quidditch.

The tryouts for the open spots on the Gryffindor team had been held a few weeks earlier, and the results posted just days before, so the new team was still relatively new news. In addition to Harry and Ron, the team now included third years Nathan Hasberry, Charles Lane, and fourth year Melanie Crabtree as chasers, fifth year Ethan Hawke and seventh year Alex Band as beaters. Most of the talk as of late was about Harry and Ron deciding to take a seventh year on the team, but they defended themselves by saying that the most qualified person to try out, and he could simply be replaced after he graduated.

Harry tuned out of this conversation, and contented himself with looking at Draco. It was hard to believe that at this time the night before, he had been totally ignorant of his feelings for the other boy, and now they were filling him up and making him happier than he could remember being since before Sirius had slipped through the veil the previous spring. But he was not going to dwell on the past, he thought to himself. Draco had noticed Harry's eyes on him, and motioned for Harry to meet him outside the Great Hall in five minutes. Then he stood up and left.

Harry waited all of thirty seconds before saying a few quick goodbyes and hurrying after the blonde boy. Draco had hardly moved the doorway before Harry came barreling up behind him, quickly turned him around, and pushed the blonde fifteen paces down the corridor and up against a wall, out of sight from the main doors of the Great Hall. Harry grabbed Draco's thin wrists and lifted them up over Draco's head, holding them against the wall with one hand, and holding Draco's torso against the wall with his own body.

Draco barely had time for his surprise to register on his face when Harry's mouth was forced upon his own.

'_Oh Gods, yes, more now quicker harder faster oh so hot more yes yes yes_,' was the extent of Draco's thoughts as Harry pushed him harder into the wall with his mouth, hands, and body. And then, as quickly as he had started it, Harry pulled away, dropping Draco's hands.

Harry watched in silent appraisal as Draco blinked several times and then shook his head. The blonde looked at Harry for a minute before, without any notice whatsoever, he reached out and grabbed Harry's robes, pulling the dark haired boy back into a forceful kiss.

This time it was Draco who pulled away, leaving a dazed Harry. "What was _that_ all about?" Draco queried, trying to straighten out invisible wrinkles in his robes without actually touching them.

"Um," came Harry's ineloquent reply, "Just something I've always wanted to do, I suppose."

"Mmh, well, I'm quite glad that you did. I think I could get quiet used to you if there's more where that came from. What's next? And didn't I tell you to wait five minutes?" He began walking back to Gryffindor Tower. Harry followed.

"Oh," Harry blushed lightly, "I thought if I waited I'd lose my nerve to do it." He straightened, and said in a matter-o-fact way, "Actually, I don't think that there will be too much more of that, tonight. I need to do some homework and polish my broomstick."

Draco's eyes lit up. He smirked in a way that Harry knew meant trouble. "Well, I can help you with that, now can't I? I'm just _so_ good at rubbing them down."

Harry groaned, knowing he had set himself up for this, but decided to play along. "I don't know, Draco, it's really, really long. I don't know if you could handle it. Your hands might get tired."

"Oh but Harry," Draco said seductively, "I know I can handle _anything_ you want to give me. Besides, I have _lots_ of practice with this kind of thing. I bet I can make it better than it ever was before."

"I don't know about that, Draco, I can do it pretty well all by myself."

"Oh _Harry_," the way Draco said his name made it sound like a moan more than a way to address a person, "You should know that the end result is _much_ more satisfactory when there are two people to work on it. It's so much _shinier._"

"I know, Draco," Harry replied, nearly getting lost in a fantasy, "Wait. What? Shinier? Eww, that's gross, Draco!" Draco had already started laughing, and by the time the pair had made it to the Tower and up to Draco's room, they were both about to fall over from laughing so hard.

Harry pulled Draco into a hug in order to support himself, and soon both boys were leaning on each other in a futile attempt to remain standing. Soon, they were both on the floor, and their laughter was finally subsiding.

Harry, who was partially on top of Draco scooted up his body so he could look at the blonde eye to eye. Draco's hair was splayed out beneath his head, there were tear tracks on his face from laughing so hard, and he had a huge smile on his face. Harry thought that Draco had never looked so beautiful before in his life. He leaned down and kissed him once, a lingering kiss that he poured his feelings and affection for the other boy into, and sat up.

"I really do have to polish my broomstick, you know," Harry said, at which Draco gave a small chuckle, "And I know we both have homework. So lets get that done before anything else happens."

"Wow, Harry Potter chooses homework over pashing with his boyfriend?" Draco asked, half teasingly while he sat up, "Am I really that bad a kisser?"

"No," Harry responded sheepishly, "But I was hoping you would help me with the Potion's work."

At this Draco swatted at Harry's head and stated, "Like hell I will." At Harry's surprised look, the blonde sighed and relented, "I was kidding; sure I'll help. Lets get our things and go down to the common room to work." So they did, and that's where they were when the Gryffindors came back from dinner.

-8-8-8-8-

Harry had just finished his Charms work when Neville, Ron, and Hermione came to sit by him at the table he was working at. Draco had gone up to his room to shower when people had started arriving back from dinner, not wanting to appear suspiciously close to Harry, and the brunette had been sitting alone until the three had joined him.

"Harry," Hermione said somberly to Harry as he sat back in his chair and looked at the three of them expectantly, "We have something that we want to talk about with you."

He was visibly confused. "About what?" he questioned, not being able to think of a reason why they would feel the need, Hermione especially, to drag him away from homework for a serious talk.

Hermione motioned with her head for the small group to move somewhere else, and so they went and sat in a group of chairs away from everybody in a corner of the room.

"Have you noticed anything unusual about Ginny's behavior lately, Harry?" Hermione looked at him from her seat next to Ron's with questioning eyes.

'_Oh. So that must be what all of this is about_,' he thought. "Do you mean the way she's been really moody and angry lately?" Harry asked, "I asked her to pass the milk at breakfast today and all she did was glare at me."

"Yes, that's exactly what we mean," Hermione both looked pleased and distressed that Harry was aware of the change in Ginny, "But if she's doing this to you, too, then something must be wrong." Hermione glanced at Neville, who then spoke up.

"At first," he began, "I thought she was just acting rudely to me, which was plausible since I broke up with her, but then I saw her blow off Hermione twice and I thought something had to be wrong."

"Yeah," Ron interjected, drawing the attention of the other three onto himself, "Gin's never acted like this before, even that time the twins set off six dungbombs in her bed at once. While she was in it. She reeked horribly for a week, and she didn't speak to either of them for almost a month, but she was still agreeable with everyone else."

"And she's been broken up with before, hasn't she? So it can't be that," Harry added, looking to Hermione for confirmation.

She nodded. "That's true. Has she been touchy with you lately Ron?"

"Well, no. Oh, wait, yeah I guess she has. Before the party I asked her if she had gotten any owls from our mum, and she told me to 'sod-the-hell-off'. And she threw a bat-bogey hex at me. I just figured it was that time of the month or something-"at this Hermione hit him in the face with a pillow she was holding.

"Merlin, Ron, you're such a _guy_," she said, almost laughing, then more seriously, "Anyway, we know that this isn't just something restricted to Neville, and we know it's never happened before, but we don't know much more than that."

"I don't guess that there's much we can do about it now, then," Neville said glumly. Harry nodded in agreement.

"I say that we take some time to watch her and see if the odd behavior continues and talk about it again later. I have stuff that I need to do."

"Yeah, like Malfoy," Ron said under his breath. Hermione snorted and Harry paled.

Neville looked up, surprised, "What?" he asked, eyebrows shot up as high as they could go.

"Oh!" Ron reddened quickly, realizing his mistake, "Uh, I said Yeah, me too." He looked around quickly, trying, and failing, to look innocent.

Hermione rolled her eyes and turned to Neville, changing the subject, "Do you want me to help you with that potion's essay now?" she asked.

Relief flooded the boy's face and he nodded. The two stood and left the room to get their things.

"Sorry, mate," Ron muttered, still red as a tomato.

"Right," Harry replied, hitting him on the side of his head. Ron put his head into his hands and massaged his temples. Harry laughed and stood to go to Draco's room and say goodnight.

Harry stopped in his dorm on the way up to Draco's to change into his pajamas, and to put away the things he had been using to do his homework. Then he made his way up to Draco's room, entered and sat on the edge of the other boy's bed when he heard the shower still running.

Five minutes later the water had stopped, but Draco still had not emerged from the bathroom, and Harry was growing bored. He decided to look through Draco's closet. The brunette walked over to the monstrous piece of furniture that was his boyfriend's wardrobe, wondering how someone could own so much clothing.

He opened the armoire's large mahogany doors and peered inside. The closet space was totally filled up, and it appeared that every article of clothing was organized by color, style, and occasion. Harry gaped at all of the expensive clothing. He was willing to bet that all of the clothes that he had ever owned in his lifetime together weren't worth half of what some of the garments he was looking at were worth.

The brunette took his time looking through all of the clothing, running his hands over the fabrics and examining them. Eventually he reached the back of the closet where he found a beautifully crafted, unstrung bow made from a light colored wood, and a quiver with arrows of the same wood. He gingerly lifted the bow out of the closet in order to examine it. He heard a voice behind him:

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to go through other people's things?" Draco sounded slightly irritated.

"No," Harry replied good-naturedly, still looking at the bow, "Didn't get much of a chance to tell me much of anything, I don't think."

"Well hell. Not much I can say to that, now is there?" Draco sounded disgruntled and a little embarrassed now. "You suck the fun out of everything, damn you."

Harry grinned and turned to look at him. "What kind of wood is it?"

"Maple," Draco replied, "Imported from America. There's no other with such color, hardness, and smoothness."

Harry nodded. "Can you shoot it?" he asked, genuinely interested.

Draco walked over to him, nodding. "Yes, I can. I took archery lessons for eight years. I'd still be taking them if there were anyone that could teach me anything I don't already know about it. Archery sort-of helps me relieve stress."

"Mmh, arrogant little bastard, aren't you? Nobody to teach you anything. Right. Care to prove your skill?" Harry grinned mischievously.

Draco sighed, went into the closet and pulled out one of the arrows. He strung the bow easily and turned to Harry. "Name your target. Nothing expensive please."

Harry looked around the room. What could he have Draco aim for? Then he had an idea. He pulled a small bit of parchment out of his pocket and went over to Draco's desk. He took a quill and drew a small dot in the lower left-hand corner of the paper, and used a sticking spell to stick the parchment to the wall. He and Draco moved to the far corner of the room and as soon as Draco had turned towards the parchment he lifted the bow and loosed the arrow.

He hit the dot square on.

Harry blinked.

Draco smirked.

"Believe me now?" Draco asked innocently.


End file.
